Everything Changes
by Paramore13
Summary: Reneesme had fled Forks with her mother and father to get away from a terrible truth. Yet she comes back a few centurys later, and finds that her nose has smelled something quite tasty. Will she be strong enough, or kill him? This is not a one shot!
1. Two Hundred Years

**Disclaimer: All original characters are the wondrous creations of Stephanie Meyer. I only own those that I envisioned in my own mind, and I ask that NO ONE (that really means just Hannah and Anna) take my characters and do something else, because they want a certain character to die. Stephanie I love your work and I relish in the fact that you made such wondrous characters. I will begin…NOW!**

**Book One**

**Two Hundred Years**

As I stepped off the plane in Forks, Washington, my only thought was that I was finally going back to my hometown and that the possibly of seeing my old friends great-great-great grandchildren would be a little weird.

My mother, Isabella, was thrilled at the idea of being able to go back to her home, and was even happier that the entire family would be living together again. My father, Edward, was indifferent. He said his only joy was to see me and my mother happy, and that would sustain him.

My mother put one of her cool hands on my shoulder as we waited for a taxi. "Remember, Reneesme, be sweet to your Aunt Alice. She's more sensitive than she looks."

My father returned and took my mother's hand and laced it in his. "I'm sure, Nessie will be fine, Bella. She never tries to make anybody feel bad, and it's not her fault that she has such an extraordinary gift." He smiled at me as the cab pulled up.

"I just want her to be a little more sensitive to the matter, Edward, that's all that I was saying."

"She will be fine, get into the cab, honey."

The cab driver had an astonished look on his face when he saw my mother, and went to open up the front door for her. However, my father took one look at his mind, and made my mother sit in the backseat with me.

It took nearly two hours before we were able to reach the house, and I had to admit that I was sincerely glad to be at home again. Grandma Esme and Aunt Rosalie were waiting for us on the front porch, huge smiles plastered on their faces.

The cab driver stepped out to help with the bags and I heard him mutter, "They all must be freaks or something, not all of them can look that beautiful."

"Mom, Rosalie! I can't believe that you waited for us, it's almost one in the morning!" My mother rushed up the stairs to meet Esme and Rosalie gracefully came down them to wrap me in a huge.

"It's been so long, Reneesme! You look gorgeous! Just wait and see what clothes your Aunt Alice and I picked out for you for the beginning of the school year! You're going to love them. But first-"she took a step back and examined me "let's have the rest of the family look at you!" She led me up the stairs and into the living room where I was greeted my hugs and kisses from everyone in the family.

"When did you get so beautiful?"

"Every boy in town is going to want a chance to date you, honey!"

"I need to get my gun oiled."

"She has much better style than her mother did at her age."

All I could do was smile at everyone. I hate talking, and everyone in my family knows it. Instead, they all placed a hand on my face and I showed them all everything. From me packing, to the plane, to the cab, to seeing all of them.

Rosalie took my hand in hers. "I am sure Reneesme wants to go to bed. Remember, she is the only one that still needs sleep." Everybody laughed politely, and said goodnight to me. I hugged my parents and walked up the stairs following my Aunt down the very hallway that they had chases me through when I was a child. When we reached the very last room, she opened the door and led me in.

"This used to be your father's room, remember?" I looked around and saw his old stereo, TV, movies, CDs, leather couch, and bed." I nodded my head and flopped down on the bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed and patted my leg. "I thought that I should tell you first, Clay is going to be staying with us for a little while."

"Why?" I jumped off the bed, one of my human quirks. "Why would he come here?"

"The Denali clan is going to send him here, they feel that it would be good for him to be able to see, and experience, another clan."

"That clan." I moved towards Rosalie and sat down next to her and I gently placed my hand on her face. I showed her everything. The clan moving in, a lone howl, ripping, whimpering, and then the horrible silence that followed.

She took my hand off her face and laced my fingers in hers. "I completely understand, Reneesme. But Clay had nothing to do with any of that, he had only been born a few months earlier, and you know he wasn't there when it happened."

"I know that," I mumbled as I crawled into the bed.

She laughed her bell like laugh, and it filled the room. "Of course, how soon I forget that you need sleep so unlike the rest of us." She moved and opened the door. "You're so like you father, but you have the looks of your mother." Then she closed the door and I heard her descend down the stairwell.

I tried to get comfortable in the bed; but I couldn't. Clay Sharp was part of the clan that had killed my best friend. How could I possibly forgive him, be around him, without ripping his throat out with my teeth? For years I had imagined how wonderful it would be to kill all of them, and it took my mother and father holding me down from doing it.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of somebody knocking on my door. "Nessie?" It was my Grandfather, Carlisle. "May I come in and speak with your for a moment, or is now not a good time for you?"

"Sure." I sat up in my bed and tried to get the curls out of my face. "Come in, Carlisle."

He glided into the room and sat down on the edge of my bed, placing one hand on my foot. "I wish we could have talked more last night, but you seemed like you were very tired." I put my hand on his face and, in my way, asked him about Clay. "Yes, it is true; he is coming here and staying with us for a little while. I promise everything will be all right."

I touched my hand to his face and showed him my thoughts. It was a cold night when The Denali clan came and tore him to pieces. There was a lone howl, and it was over.

"I know Nessie, but that's in the past now. You have to remember that happened almost two hundred years ago, and Clay is only one hundred years old. Now, you should know that your parents will not be joining you in high school this century." I cocked my head to one side. "Your father will be working with me in the clinic, and your mother will be helping Esme with her new home decorating company. Your Aunt Alice has her clothing line, and Rose is a music instructor. Emmett has his own law firm and is taking Jasper on as a, intern." He sighed heavily; everyone is doing what they want, finally!" He reached into his pocket and took out a phone. "This is yours, it has everything you will need and is on the Cullen plan." He smiled as I shifted and took the phone out of his hand. "You and Clay will be enlisted as sophomores this year, you're a Cullen and he's a Hale."

My smile made a slight frown. I didn't want to go alone with Clay, what if he tried to do something to me, I don't even know him. "Don't worry, Nessie, everything will be fine." Carlisle stood up and made his way for the door. "You may want to start getting ready soon; I expect he's arriving in about two hours." He opened the door and stepped into the hallway. "And do try to be nice to Clay, he's just like you. Scared." He shut the door behind him and I heard my mother's sharp voice.

"How dare you try and do something like this, Carlisle! How can you expect her to be okay with this? Don't you remember what that clan did?"

"I think it will be good for her, Bella." Unlike my mother's voice, Carlisle was calm. "Clay needs a home, his own clan rejected him.

"What?" My mother sounded surprised. "Why on earth would they do something like that? Wasn't he supposed to be their prodigy or something like that?"

"When Elazear found that human girl, his hope, internally, would be that the child would turn out like Nessie's-"

"Reneesme."

"Whatever. Elazear though that the child would have an extraordinary gift. However, when he learned that Clay was plain, he shunned him to the side." I could hear my mother sigh, but Carlisle cut her off. "Clay is not venomous, and he has no power what so ever. His own father rejected him, Bella." I could hear the pleading in Carlisle's voice. "This might help Nessie leave the past behind her. It's been two hundred years, and I think she's taking this a little hard."

I bounded out of my bed and was at the door in less than a second. When I opened the door I found Carlisle and my mother staring at me. When I reached out my hand for Carlisle, he instinctively put his face forward, but I lowered my hand at the last minute and put my face right in front of him. I felt my cheeks begin to flush as my blood rushed. "Listen, Carlisle." I heard my throat growl, a sound I had only heard myself do once before. "I don't care if Clay comes here or not, but if he mentions him," I bit my bottom lip, a habit I'm told my mother did when she was human, "I have no problem with leaving this clan and moving to a different one."

"Reneesme!" My mother put one of her cool hands on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.

"I mean it, Grandpa. One peep from that little rat and I will leave this clan and go join the one from the Amazon." Leaving them both with open mouths I turned and slammed the door in their faces.

I had been so exited to come here, and I was just now realizing what a mistake it had been. I had returned to the one place that I had run from.

I walked into my closet and began to thumb through the garment bags that my Aunts had put in there for me. There were skirts, and dresses, blouses, and of course everything was pink and white. I can take white, it makes my hair stand out, but pink is just ugly.

I walked over to my dresser and found that my Uncles had some doing in my selection of clothes when I opened a drawer. Jeans, sweaters, long-sleeves, and t-shirts. All of which were in whites, deep blues, blacks, and reds.

I pulled out a white sweater and some dark jeans. "Alice will love this," I muttered to myself as I ran a brush through my hair; not something I needed to do, but a human quirk I'm told.

I walked to the side of my room that was completely glass, and I opened the window. I put my toes on the edge and put my arms out to my sides, and then I let myself fall. I loved the feeling, the wind rushing through my hair. I tucked into a flip, something Emmitt had shown me, and I began to run into the forest.

I ran all the way to my house, the one that Esme had built for me and my husband on our wedding day. It was a small house in the deepest part of the woods, where he and I had spent so much of our time together when I was growing up. Outside the house was a swing set; and I recalled out shared interest on having children to push on it.

I sat down on the nearest swing and began to rock myself back and forth, thinking of all the time that we had shared together. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't even hear my father walk up behind me, until he put one of his hands on my shoulder.

"Reneesme?" I turned to look at my father. His jaw was tight, and his eyes showed only the deepest concern. "Why don't you show me what you though happened between you and Carlisle this morning, honey?" I placed one hand on his face and his closed his eyes to see everything clearly. "I understand why you're upset, Reneesme. What Carlisle said was no small thing." He turned from me and began to walk towards the house. "I remember when your mother and I walked you two here on your wedding night. You looked so gorgeous in your wedding dress." He turned back towards me and sat down on the swing next to mine. "No one is blaming you for feeling upset. You have every right to be upset with that clan. I think you need to give Clay chance, he's been thrown out of his own clan and needs a friend."

"I know." I mumbled.

"Okay." My father stood up and reached for my hand to help me off of the swing. We began to walk back towards the house when I stopped and looked back at mine."

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"I really miss Jacob."

"I know honey, I know." He put his arm around my shoulders and we began our walk back towards the house when I realized something. It had been almost two hundred years since I had said my husband's name without crying. Almost two hundred years since the Denali Clan had ripped him to shreds.


	2. Wise Words

**Wise Words**

I sat in the living room on the white couch watching my uncle's play chess. My legs were bouncing up and down, while my fingers tapped nervously on the arm of the couch. I watched as my Aunt Alice change the flowers in the living room to fresh, white, lilies.

I listened to my father and Aunt Rose play a duet on the piano while my mother sang sweetly, with them. My uncles bobbed their heads in time with the music, and my aunt Alice came to sit next to me. "Stop fidgeting, Nessie." She placed one of her hands on my legs to make them stop. "You're making Jasper extremely nervous."

I looked back at my uncles and noticed, now, that my Uncle was looking at me every few moments. I knew that he hated this, more than anyone else in the room. He tried to smile at me, but I knew what he was really feeling; he was feeling everything that I was feeling. A feeling of hate rushing through me, anger, betrayal, and yet there was a faint curiosity that played inside of me.

I looked at the door again, waiting for somebody to come up the stairs. Alice looked at me look at the door, and said "He won't be here for a few more minutes, Ness. Don't be so anxious. He might start to think you like him." She giggled and leapt off of the couch and was on the other side of the wall before I raised my hand to swat at her.

Both uncles rose at the moment. Before I could blink Emmett was beside me and Jasper was on the other side of me. I remembered this stance from earlier in my life.

My mother had just given birth to me a few days before I met her. The entire family was in the room to see what kind of reaction she was going to have. One small movement from her and my uncles would tense up. One harsh movement and everybody were ready to grab me and he restrain her. Had I become so unpredictable?

"Now boys," my Aunt said playfully, "I deserved that. Nessie is, of course, going to be a little temperamental for these first few days. Would you expect anything else?" She smiled and began to hum with my mother to the music that was filling the room.

I glanced back at m mother and she held out her hand for me to join her in her song. I wanted to decline. I had not sung or played music in two hundred years, and I had no intention of starting now. Yet, my aunt had other ideas as she gently pushed me towards my mother and waited for me to start the song.

I opened my mouth to let the music pour out of me. Soon my mother and I were singing together, and my aunt and uncles were beaming at me. I couldn't help but let memories fly across my mind. No matter how hard I tried I could not suppress the one night that changed my life.

Jacob and I had been in our home only a few short months, but they were happy months nonetheless. A light snow was falling outside, but it was warm inside. Jacob and I were sitting on my piano bench, in front of my grand piano; a wedding gift from my Aunt Rosalie. I was playing one of my favourite winter songs, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". I had fallen in love with the song when I was a child, and Jacob only knew a few lines. Yet he tried to sing with me by adding his baritone voice whenever he knew the words.

I hit the last note perfectly and he howled his note and we both laughed. He picked me up, off the bench, and then took me to sit on the couch. He placed one hand on my stomach and began to kiss my jaw line. "You're all I ever wanted, Nessie." He smiled against my lips as he gave me a light kiss. "Ever since you were young, I've always wanted you in my life."

I placed one hand on the side of his face, feeling his warmth penetrate my skin; a burning sensation that I never wanted to let go of. "I'm happy you stayed. I don't know what I would have done without you here."

"You would have found somebody else." His voice became gruff and I knew that he was playing with me.

"Nobody else cold handel me. I would break them in half if they touched me." I squeezed the table next to us and broke off a piece of the wood to show him.

"Ooh. Scary vampires take her prey." He took the piece of wood out of my hand and kissed my palm. "You wouldn't break anybody in half that would be your mother and Rose." He let out a low chuckle while I giggled at the thought of my dear Rose hurting a fly, and my mother helping. "You've made me the happiest man on the face of this earth, Nessie. I can't wait to have this-"

There was a loud knock on the door, almost intruding. We both got up, but Jacob pushed me back and answered the door himself. That one single knock ended our life together. One knock and my life was flipped upside down and inside out. One knock and the only man that I have ever loved was taken from me.

I felt a slight pull on my shirt. I wanted to bad to escape from this pain that I welcomed it. I even welcomed my mother's sharp voice. "Reneesme!" She tweaked my hand again and woke me completely. "He's here." Without letting go of my hand, my mother lead me into the main part of the room to greet the new arrival.

The form of the greeting instantly reminded me of my own wedding, when Jacob and I had been recived by my "cousins" his pack and my family, then our friends. I could smell him as soon as he walked through the door; I had not smelled another half vampire since I had been a few months old. His smell was different from the others. It was as if I could smell the sun, did I smell like that as well?

Carlisle and Esme were the first to greet him. I could hear them speaking to him softly, but yet he said not a word. Rosalie and Emmett greeted him next, and I heard Emmett's laugh as he clapped the boy on the shoulder, and Rosalie's light laughter as, I'm sure, she saw the look on the boy's face when Emmett clapped him. Alice and Jasper were next to receiving him. I wondered how he would feel next to Jasper's imposing stare, and Alice knowing eyes. Would he tremble at their glares? Next were my mother and father and, from behind them, I could finally see him.

Jet black hair and bright green eyes. His skin was, like mine, slightly flushed in the cheeks; yet, unlike mine, under his eyes were purplish bruises; as if he had not slept in days. Just like a real vampire, I thought to myself, which earned me a warning look from my father.

"May I present my daughter, Reneesme?" My father gently pushed me before him to meet this new visitor. Clay seemed highly uncomfortable in his new surroundings. The very thought of him being nervous sent a small smile to my lips. His brilliant green eyes darted around the room as if someone was going to bite off his head. He was tall and lean, but no doubt built; as all of us were. His long black sleeved shirt accented his muscles and they went well with his light blue jeans and black shoes. /my father placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'll go and get your things." He left, and then I noticed that the rest of my family had left as well.

"Hello, Reneesme." His voice wasn't like my families. Not musical, or sweet, but normal; yet there was something different about it. He held out one pale hand to shake mine; instead I placed one of my hands on his face. His skin felt amazing; it had been so long since I had touched someone who made my skin feel comfortable.

He left his face in my hand; and I felt a small sigh of relief escape his lips. I tensed up, so I showed him the only thing that could come to my mind. I showed him his clan tearing up my Jacob, and then I showed his face. I lowered my hand and looked into his eyes. "I've made the connection." Turning my heel I walked out of the room leaving him speechless.

No sooner had I laid down on my bed than I heard my father's quick footsteps coming up the starts and down the hallway. Bracing myself for his storm I waited for him to knock on m door. I walked over to sit on my stool by the vanity and said "Come in".

The door opened, revealing my father, looking less than please. "Reneesme, could you be a dear and explain to me why there is a young man in the house who is scared of having his throat cut out?"

"I doubt he's young. He's at least one hundred and fifty years old."

"Don't get smart with me, young lady!" I heard the door slam behind him as he stepped into my room.

"Look, Dad, I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't do anything to that boy." This was a game I played, and a hard game at that. Quickly I began to race through my thoughts, anything but what had just happened so that my father might go away. I filled my head with all sorts of things: my first day at school, my first hunt, my first car, my first kiss, puppies, ponies, rabbits, turtles, what I said to Clay…shit. I looked up at my father and saw him staring at me, his mouth wide open from shock.

"How dare you do this? Do you even understand what you've done? This is a chance for our two clans to join again. What happens if the Vultouri decide that they wish to wage war against us again? We need to the help of the other clans, one of which is the Denali. You could have ruined everything!"

I looked away from him. I had no idea what I was supposed to say, or what to do. I didn't want to be here, with m father, or with the backstabbing vampire. I stood up and walked to my window and jumped out; as soon as my feet touched the ground I began to run.

"We are not done talking, young lady! Your mother will hear about this!" I glanced over my shoulder in time to see my father step away from m window, and probably go run to tell my mother what had happened. I jumped the river and was surprised to run into my uncle.

"Jasper!" I gasped; in all my stress I wasn't really looking where I was going. "I'm sorry."

"Nessie." He smiled at me, and then began to frown; no doubt starting to feel what I was feeling. "Where are you going?"

"Where have you been?" I smirked at his face, as my new emotion, playfulness, started to spread through me. "You and Alice departed right after you met Clay; where is she?"

"You nosy little git!" he grabbed me in a headlock and gave me a nuggie. "If you must know I had to leave the house. The tension in there was unbelievably hostile. I had to leave before I ripped the kids head off myself." He began to walk back into the woods and I naturally began to follow him. "You know, he was more scared than I thought he would be."

"Really?" I knew he was scared, but to learn that he was that scared made me feel a little guilty.

"Terrified, practically." Jasper smiled at me. "So, is everything okay with you now? I mean-" I could tell he was at a loss for words. Nobody wanted to mention him around me; though I knew that had talked about it. "I mean, are you okay to be here; in Forks?"

"I'll be okay, Jazz. I think it will be okay. I was just going to go for a walk. Would you like to-?" I gestured towards the path in the woods and smiled.

"Of course." He held out his arm for me and I wrapped my arm around it. "So, are you excited about tomorrow?"

"Scared, but somewhat excited. I'm worried, maybe I haven't been gone long enough."

"No. It's been long enough." He glanced at me, as I started to feel scared. "Don't worry, Reneesme. You'll be the bell of the ball; or the school."

"Yeah." I looked away off into the trees. We were nearing the spot that Jacob and I had always come too. As I felt the grass under my bare feet I remember running from Jake, playing hide-and-go-seek when I was a child; and receiving my first kiss in this wood. When we came to our old hammock I stopped.

I had been around nine years old when Jacob first set up the hammock for me. "I don't like t that you're laying on the ground, Nessie. You shouldn't be getting your clothes dirty like that." At this time I was still young, and not in love with Jacob yet; but I knew that I needed him and was happy that he was near so much.

"Uncle Jakey; how come your always around/"

"For you, Neesie." I remember him smiling at me. "You're my sunshine. You don't want your Uncle Jakey to be in the dark all the time do you?"

I remember shaking my head no as I watched him hook up the hammock. When he was finished I had jumped up on the hammock and clung to it. I had never been in a hammock before and I wasn't sure how to react to the constant swinging. I remember falling off immediately, and crying before I even hit the ground. "Jakey!" I was practically howling when he picked me up off the ground.

"It's okay, Neesie." I remember him laughing as he picked me up off the ground. "Let's try it again, I promise that you'll like it." He placed me on the hammock, but with my squirming I only fell off again. "Wow, kid. You're such a stubborn little thing; just like your father." This time he sat on the hammock and placed me next to him. In the next few minutes I was laying down snuggling with my favourite Uncle Jakey.

"Neesie?" Jasper's voice brought me back to life. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." I shook my head and smiled at my Uncle Jazz. "I was just reminiscing; you know this was our spot."

"Yes. I remember having to go and get you in your teen years. What fun that was." I laughed as the memory of Jazz running to find me making out with Jacob came to mind.

"Sorry about that, Jazz."

"Yeah well, you were younger then." He laughed and we both sat down on the hammock and began to listen to the birds sing around us. I had only seen birds when Jake took me to the zoo; animals didn't like us.

I felt a hand on my cheek and noticed that I had started to cry. "Oh." I gathered up my sleeve and wiped away my tears. "Sorry, Jazz. I didn't even notice that I was-"

"It's alright, Reneesme." I looked up at him. "None of us will ever understand what you're feeling. We've never lost the ones that we love; save our families. We've never lost our other halves. I'm so sorry Neesie. This must be hard for you."

"It's so strange, to be sitting here without him by my side. I, in my whole life, had him holding my hand. Even when I had to go do something with my parents, I knew that I could always come home and find him waiting for me on my porch. Being back without him here, is strange."

"Reneesme, you must move on. You cannot spend your life mourning over Jacob. He is a very important part of your life, but do you have to be sad about it? Try feeling like he's in a better place, trying thinking about all the fun that you two had together. Jacob wouldn't want you to spend your existence wallowing in the wake of him. He would want you to be happy."

I looked at my favourite uncle and smiled at him. He was the only one, ever since I lost Jacob that told me that. He was the only one who had spoken to me about Jacob at all. No one had ever talked to me because they all thought that I wouldn't want to hear anything. Jasper and I had always been close; and it only seemed right that it should be him that told me.

Jasper stood up. "I'm going back to the house; are you staying?"

"Yes. I think I might stay for a little while longer." I sat, swinging on my hammock, as I watched Jasper disappear into the trees.


	3. At First Glance

**At First Glance**

I opened my eyes to find the birds were no longer singing their sweet tunes that had sent me to sleep on my hammock. I let myself swing slowly, looking up at the stars through the trees, and I found all the constellations that we looked at. It seemed like yesterday that he and I had sat here the day before our wedding, during our wedding, and then the next day.

"Forever; Nessie. Forever." I remember his voice like he was whispering it in my ear at this very moment. "No matter what happens, I will always be with you; you know that right?"

I remembered leaning my face into the light caress that his hand was providing me. His very touch was able to make me melt. "We will never be apart, Jake. You know that." I remember leaning into him and feeling the security that I loved all of my life. I shuddered as I noticed that it had been taken so unjustly from me.

"Am I really this pathetic?" I mumbled as I set one foot on the ground. As I sat up, for just a moment, I thought his hand was on my shoulder again, helping me stand. I felt that if I closed my eyes I might feel him take my hand in his, and hold me close; like he used to so many years ago.

These woods had been my solace ever since I had been born. I knew these woods like my own back hand, and it was to these woods that I needed to find what I was looking for. I knew that I was going to have to go to my house soon. Yet, as I began walking into the woods I soon forgot all about my old home.

I began running deeper into the woods, I didn't care who I met or where I went. Walking over to a nearby tree I placed a hand on the base of the trunk. As I climbed up it I realized that I had not hunted in a couple of days, and I was thirsty.

As I sat on a branch I waited, with my eyes closed, listening for movement. I wanted a carnivore. I could smell elk and hear them gulping up water. There was a herd of deer in a nearby meadow. I could hear a mother bear and her cubs playing a few yards away. What I wanted was a mountain lion. I leaned forward a hair and found the scent I was looking for.

I began to jump from branch to branch, purely following my animal instincts. I could hear the creature's heart pounding in my ears. I already knew that the taste would satisfy me. I leapt to a tall tree and found the animal lurking in a brush, waiting for prey of its own. With one swoop I was upon the creature, sinking my teeth into its throat after snapping its neck. The blood going down my throat felt so amazingly good. So warm, so sweet, so utterly perfect.

I let the animal fall to the ground as I lay back against the cool earth. My thirst was never quenched. This was my personal curse; a vampire's personal curse. There was no way around it except for the blood of humans, but I had lived my whole life with humans. How could I possibly hurt one of them?

I thought back to the day that I had killed a poor human. His eyes had been so full of fear, his last breath was strangled. I remembered leaning back against a tree after my evil deed and wondering; how I can do something so horrible? I had the capability to kill a human, that didn't mean that I had to exercise it.

I climbed back up the tree and began to go from branch to branch towards my home. I was almost too where my hammock was when I smelled an extremely alluring scent. I had not smelled something so good in m entire life; and as I turned in midair towards the scent I knew that I never would again.

I rested my head back against the tree and closed my eyes; trying to ignore the new scent in the air. I knew that if I really wanted to I could live off of human food. It would sustain me, but the taste of it was worse than skunk, and I found out when I was younger how horrible skunk was.

Nothing had ever made my throat burn so hot before; nothing had ever made all of my senses seem ten times better. I felt all of my muscles tense underneath my skin. Try as I might I knew that there was no way that I would be able to ignore this scent forever. It called to me, in a way that no other scent could. I knew this scent was human; nothing made my throat burn this badly. Yet it all felt so new to me, for I had not spent time with humans in hundreds of years. I knew that my eyes were a dark brown, deeper than natural. I could feel myself let myself go completely into the hunt.

I let myself fall to the ground and knew that I was close to the source of my problems. I felt the ground in between my toes as I wiggled them and knew that this would be a spectacular kill. I felt a smile spread across my face at the very thought of my thirst being satisfied, even for just a moment.

"Kyle. Are you sure that you know where you're going? I feel like we've been walking for hours." I stopped in my tracks; I had never heard a more beautiful voice in m entire life. Who was this person? I scaled a nearby tree and began to look for the possible source of my problem. "Where are we going anyway?"

As I saw him I could feel my jaw drop. A young man stood against a tree. He was tall with messy brown hair, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a green shirt, and dirty jeans. He smelled like the perfect dinner. Yet he looked like an angel. So perfect, and so at home in the woods that I loved.

"Stop complaining, James." I heard another voice reach the small clearing, and my hunger automatically stopped. This young man smelled like rotten eggs, and worse. A much rougher voice was speaking. "Of course I know where we're going." He had sandy blonde hair and tan skin. Yet his whole demeanor was so haughty that it sickened me. The way that he touched the tree made me think that it would die of his touch. "We're going to go to the old Black House. It's in the clearing across the way."

The old Black house? The only house in the next clearing was my old house; the house that Jacob and I had spent our married life in. Then I realized that the boys meant my old house. If they were going there then I could quench my thirst.

I began to jump across the branches of the nearby trees to get to my house. I got all the way to the edge of my clearing and leapt to my feet. How wonderful it would be, and I would be sure to give that boy a beautiful death, he deserved it. Angles, if they could die, deserved beautiful deaths. Plus he would be going towards a great cause; my thirst would be quenched for a few weeks at the least.

I began to run to my home, I needed to make sure that the blood was off of the carpet; and if it wasn't then I would have to hide it somehow. The night that Jacob had died on my carpet somehow all rushed back to me, and I stopped in front of my front door. Was I sure that I wanted to do this. Was it right for me to allow another man into my home? I smiled to myself. Of course it was okay, I wasn't marrying him; I was killing him.

As I opened the door I found that my house was the way I had left it. The only difference was that the blood stained carpet was gone, replaced with a new one; probably by Esme. I smiled to myself. I would have to try and not get too much blood on the carpet; she went through a lot of trouble to find this carpet, and I didn't want her to have to look for another one.

I sat in my living room, on my old couch and began to feel my heart tugging at me. I had not been here in two hundred years, and my first thought was to kill somebody here? This couldn't be right. I heard the heartbeats of the boys coming closer to my home.

I quickly looked out of the window. "This isn't right. I can't do this, not on my first day back." I walked to the back of my home and stole out the back door. If I was lucky I would be able to double back and walk with them to the house, that way I wouldn't have to kill them inside of it.

As I began to walk around the house, the young man's scent hit me hard in the face again. This would be his last day on earth, and I would be the last person he would ever meet. How wondrous for him, to be able to meet a being like me before death.

"Kyle, this place really isn't this scary." His voice was so beautiful. "This house looks like every other house that I've ever seen. But it's nothing like that disserted Cullen house. That place is absolutely gorgeous. I'm going to live in that place one day."

"Like you could ever afford to live in that place." The blonde boy laughed, and ugly high-pitched sound that hurt my ears. "Besides, haven't you listened to grandma tell the legends of the Cullens?"

I stopped in my tracks, only a few footsteps away from them. There were legends about us? Who would possible know about us, the only people that knew were the people on the reservation, and those people were dead. Dead, and long gone.

"You know that I barely ever listen to Grandma Leah." The boy with the brown hair laughed. Yet this laugh was gorgeous, a laugh that demanded anybody's attention, and command the person to stare.

"The Cullen family comes and goes every few years. Though, Grandma says that they haven't been there in a few hundred years. Anyways, the Cullens are the cold ones. They have to leave and come back every few half centuries so that nobody will realize that they never age."

"Never age?" I could hear the humor in his voice. The very thought of my family being real was extremely funny to him, and I had to admit that if I wasn't who I was, I would find the notion unbelievable well.

"Yeah, you know the cold ones are immortal. They look beautiful, like angels. They have beautiful voices, pale skin, are freezing cold, unbelievably smart, and are amazingly fast." He looked at him and leered. "But you don't know the whole story. Like, two hundred years ago one of the Cullen girls killed a member of our tribe. She just tore him apart, after she married him and everything." I could hear the smugness in his voice. I was going to rip out his throat and leave it for the crows.

"Excuse me?" I stepped around the corner of the house. "Can I help you?" I saw the startled reactions on their faces, and then looked closer as I saw how they each registered me in their own minds.

The blonde was aggravated, and it was easy to tell. His eyes narrowed at me, and his nose wrinkled up in a horrible expression, as if he had smelled something vile. His whole body tensed, as if he would pounce on me in any given moment. He released a sigh and I could hear the annoyance in his very breath.

The brunette's reaction was extremely different. His body tensed, but in a completely different way. He sucked in his breath instead of exhaling, and his eyes showed curiosity. Yet he did not seem as impressed as I thought he would. His eyes held no wonder, and instead of leaning towards me he leaned away, as if my very being was too imposing, to in his way.

"Who are you?" The blonde spoke first. "And what are you doing around here?"

I almost recoil from his voice. It's so striking, so ruff. "My family own this house, and I was wondering what you were doing here?" I take a step closer, and I almost lose control of myself when the wind blows the brunette's hair towards me.

"Sorry." He says it in such a nonchalant voice, as if he doesn't care if I go or if I stay. "Sorry to bother you." He takes a step back and crosses his arms. His body language speaks of a person that wants absolutely nothing to do with me what so ever. Yet, his friend is not so gracious.

"How can you stand to live here? I mean it's haunted." He ran a hand through his hair, and I could almost feel the dandruff fall onto my face. "Any way's we're the Clearwater's; welcome to the woods." I had to control my jaw. The Clearwater's. These were the descendents from Leah or Seth. I knew that I needed to find out who's they were. If they were from Leah than it might be better for me to kill them; the world should not be exposed to such filth. "Whatever, my name is Kyle and this is my cousin James." James nodded at me, but didn't say anything.

"So would you two like to come in?" Kyle nodded and James shrugged, but they both followed me into the house. It was nerve raking. There was no possible way that I could kill a descendent of Seth's; and there was no possible way of asking them from which side they were on without giving myself up and my entire family.

"This place smells kind of funny." Kyle was getting on my nerves. "Like something rotten."

I led them into the main sitting room. "I'm sorry. I've never really noticed the smell. We don't have a lot of food or anything, but I'm sure that I can find you something, somewhere?" I stood up in an effort to try and get them something, but Kyle shook his head and I sat back down.

"So are the two of you brothers?"

"No." It was the first time that James had spoken since I had officially met him. But he wasn't even looking at me when he answered.

"We're cousins." Kyle began to pluck at the priceless couch that he was sitting on. "He goes to school in town and I go in the reservation."

I looked at James, hopeing that I would get a smile out of him while he was here, and holding back my primal urge to devour him. "I guess that I will see you in school then. I'm a sohphmore, are you too?"

"Yes." Monosyllabic. It was driving me bonkers. He glanced away from me and spoke once more. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Cool." I didn't know why I was trying to be nonchalant. What I really wanted to do was swoop down and obtain all of his blood as quickly as I could. Yet I found myself sitting on a chair and acting like I didn't care about him. "You will be able to find your way home right?"

"Of course we will." Kyle stood up and smirked at me. "I've been around here hundreds of times. It's you that should need my help on how to get out of here."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." James stood up and nodded briefly to me.

I led them to the door and opened it for them. After I saw that they were out of the field I raced back home. My life had changed, and I knew it. I would be seeing this human everyday in school, and his scent would be tempting. I slid the glass back into place in my bedroom.

As I sat down on my bed I thought of Jacob. His scent had never hit me like this humans. Yet, no matter how much I wanted James' blood I couldn't kill him. Something held me back in a way that had never happened to me before in my entire existence. Yet I couldn't help but think about Jacob and I thought about James.


	4. Truce

**Truce**

I woke up the next morning to the familiar sound of rain pounding lightly on my window. The sound made me think of my younger years, and I pulled a pillow to my chest and hugged it tightly.

Today was my first day of school, in America, in two hundred years. I wasn't sure if I was emotionally ready for all the students. Yet, as I walked to my vanity I knew what my real problem would be. James. His very scent had sent me up and around the trees of the woods, and I knew that the only reason I had not killed him was because I was not sure of whose side of the family he was on.

As I began to run a brush through my hair I realized that I would be catching tid-bits of his scent through the entire day. How was I going to last a day like this? The rain would make his scent go away, yes, but as soon as he gets dry, then I am in a torture chamber.

I walked over to my window and opened it. Reaching out my hand I could feel the cool drops of rain hit my skin, and the feeling was euphoric. I looked out at my hometown and let out a sigh. I loved this town, the woods, but I wished that I could go to the reservation like I used to when I was younger.

As I looked back towards my bed a memory came to mind of Jacob. The rain was like background music to the memory, and when I looked back outside I realized that this day was exactly like it.

The day that Jacob had asked me to marry him had been one of the best days in my entire life. We had been together for as long as I could remember. First he was my playmate, than a loving guardian, and then I knew that he was my love. It was raining outside and Jacob and I were watching one of our favourite movies together, Sweeny Todd.

"Nessie, I have some news that might change things for a little while, between us." I looked up at him, and I'm sure that my face must have shown real worry because he laughed and smiled at me. "I've been accept to a university." My jaw dropped. My family and I had discussed college for me. I was going to live forever, so if I wanted to take a break from school after high school they were completely okay with it. Yet we had never really talked about Jacob, I had thought that he would be with me where ever I went.

"Oh, Jake! That's awesome! When do you start WU?"

"Wait, you mean Washington University?"

"Of course that's what I mean. That's where you're going right?" As I registered the look on his face I realized that he had absolutely no interest of going to Washington University; plus in my stupidity I had assumed that he would be where ever I was.

"It's not WU. It's in Florida. Florida University." I knew that my face must have not shown comprehension. "Ness, as in Florida."

"Florida? I thought that we would be going to make a family together here, not you going off to Florida and leaving me behind."

"A family?" He pulled me close to him and I could feel his warm breath on my neck, which sent shivers up my spine. "Something needs to happen for us to make a family, Reneesme." He chuckled, a low seductive sound.

"Jacob." I gently pushed him away from me. "My parents are in the next room, you know that they can hear whatever you're saying." I felt my cheeks blush furiously as he laughed at me.

Jacob got on the floor in front of my and took my hand in his large warm ones. I had watched plenty of girls swoon over Jacob, send him notes, find his phone number and call him, and try and corner him. Yet his attention had never wavered from me. His attention was always on me. "Reneesme Carlie Cullen, you have made me happier than anybody in the world could ever possibly have. I need you to be with me every day, or I'm not sure what to do with myself. Will you do me the honour of becoming Reneesme Carlie Black?"

"Jacob." I turned my head o the side and saw my entire family looking at us from the dining room. They had all known that he was going to ask me today, they had all conveniently left the room so that I could have alone time with him. I jumped on him, which caused us to land on the floor and shake the room. "Yes!" I began to plant kisses all over his face, finally settling or a long linger on his lips. "Yes, yes, yes. I want to be Reneesme Carlie Black!"

Hands grabbed us and pulled us up. I was smothered by kisses from my family and Jacob's hair was tasseled so much that it was all static. Carlisle had set his camera up and we all posed for a picture. I knew that my family was beautiful, but I also knew that no faces were more beautiful than me and Jacob's and we couldn't take our eyes off each other.

I was immediately knocked out of my memory by a light sound outside my door. It sounded like somebody was leaving the room across from mine, but they weren't walking down the hall, they were standing in front of my door. I walked over to my door and opened it, and was thoroughly taken aback to see a very distressed Clay on the other side of it.

"Reneesme." His voice quivered, and cast his eyes down toward the floor. "I'm sorry if I bothered you. I was just trying to go down and get some breakfast. I didn't mean to wake you." He began to walk quickly away from me, as if I was going to attack him at any moment.

"No, wait." I knew that what I had done the previous day was extremely vile, and that there would be no way for us to live in the same house with such hostility. "We need to talk. Do you think that you can wait in the front of the house? I can show you the best places to hunt and all that stuff too."

"Yes." He nodded his head. "I'll wait."

I turned and shut the door behind me. The clock said six thirty and school would start at seven thirty. I walked over to my closet and began to root through the clothes that my aunts had given me. It was like walking into a dinner party. It was all gowns, skirts, and blouses. Then I remembered that my uncles had stocked my dresser so I took out a pair of dark jeans and a long sleeved white shirt.

My purse, notebook, and keys were in my hands as I began to walk down the stairs. Yet, I was surprised to find my father sitting on the couch waiting for me to reach the bottom.

"Reneesme, please tell me why there is a young man who thinks hat he's going to die because you're going to rip his throat out, in the woods?" He stood up and walked towards me. "Well?"

I laughed, though it was hardly convincing. "I want to make amends. What I did was wrong, and I know that. I want to explain to him how I feel, and why I acted the way I did." My father's eyes widened and his mouth opened in retaliation. "Dad, I can handle this. I promise." I walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you after school; have fun at work with Carlisle, Dad. Tell mom I love her." Car key jiggling I shut the door behind me to find clay standing, rigid, on the porch."

"Has Carlile told you your story yet?"

"Yes." His voice seemed to come out in a squeak. "My name is Clay Hale, younger brother to the twins, Jasper and Rosalie Hale. Mrs. Cullen adopted all of us when we were younger, and we just moved here a few days ago." He looked at me. "Is that okay?"

"Perfect." I smiled, what I hoped would be a comforting one. "Have you ever gone to school before?"

"No, I was homeschooled." He looked at me, his eyes full of curiosity. "What's it like? Is it hard to be around them all the time?"

"It's not as difficult as you think. Well, you know that our thirst is nothing like our parents. Plus humans rarely come around us. The strangeness that we can, so easily, emit throws them off of us entirely. As long as we hunt before school starts, we should be okay."

"What's your favourite?"

"Mountain lion. Yours?'

"Polar bear." For the first time he looked at me dead in the eyes, looking as if he was staring into the face of a bully. "I don't want you to hate me. I'm extremely sorry for what my clan did to you, but hopefully we can become friends and once again reunite our clans." Then at once his business-like demeanor left him, and his eyes showed worry as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "How long had you known him?"

"His name was Jacob. I had known him before I was born." I bit my lip. "I don't blame you, Clay." I smiled up at him. "We should really hunt before we go to school." I began to walk into the woods, "We don't have any polar bears but-"

"I'm sure I can manage." He laughed. "I think this is the first time, since I've been here, that I've laughed."

I laughed with him as we both ran into the centre of the woods, our hearts racing with anticipation of a great kill.


	5. Not Such A Small Town

**Not Such A Small Town**

When we pulled up to school at seven fifteen, I wasn't at all surprised to see the mass of students accumulating around my car.

"Is this really yours?"

"Where did you get this?"

"This car must have cost a fortune...I thought they only sold these in Germany."

"Really? I didn't even think that they were selling this model yet? I thought it was reserved for next year."

Clay laughed as they asked him where we had gotten the car. "I'm not sure, our parents got it for us." We walked, together, to the main building to get our parking passes and schedules; and I braced myself for all the memories or scents that might hit me when I walked through the door.

We reached the front desk and there was a short, plump, woman sitting behind it with horn-rimmed glasses and thick lipstick on. I took a quick glance at my designer shirt, Clay's well put together ensemble, then to her purple t-shirt and knew that we had over dressed. "Hello. We're new to this town and we need parking passes, and schedules."

She eyed us as she looked for are class listings. No doubt she, and a few other people, had heard about our family. How we all lived together, and got together; and how are adoptive parents were too young to load themselves down with so many children. She handed us our listings and smiled at us. "Good luck you two. I hope that you have a great time here at Forks High." She cast a look at Clay that would have been flirtatious if she hadn't of turned away so quickly.

As soon as we left the room Clay started laughing. "That was extremely disgusting, Nessie. Did you see how that old woman was looking at me? I felt like an elk for a moment." We both laughed at the memory of this morning, as we had both taken down two considerably large male elk; and as we laughed I noticed that the other students head immediately turned to us. Clay, noticing all of them, dropped him voice to a whisper. "I'm old enough to be her grandfather."

We were both in giggling fits as we walked into our first class together, which was Honours English 10. We both sat down at the back of the class, where it seemed that nobody else was sitting.

As soon as the bell rang the teacher walked to the door and abruptly shut it. "Class, we have two new students joining us today. I would like you all too welcome Reneesme Cullen and Clay Hale."

In an instant all heads were on us, and I knew that Clay could hear all the hearts begin to race as they kept looking. I quickly glanced around and noticed a few boys that were somewhat cute, in that human way. However, none really met the standard that I was looking for. When I looked over at Clay I could tell he felt the same way about the girls.

"Ms. Cullen, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?" The teacher beamed at me, as if she really thought that this humiliation was an opportunity that I waited for. Her blue eyes watched me as I raised from my seat, and she leaned back a quarter of an inch against her desk.

"My name is Reneesme Carlie Cullen, and this is my brother Clay Henry Hale. My family and I have lived all over the world, but most recently we lived in Surrey, England." I was about to sit down when the teacher shifted her stance. I had watched enough humans in my lifetime to realize that she was uncomfortable with the answer that I had given her. "My adoptive father works as a doctor in the hospital in town, and my mother works in her own business of designing and furnishing homes."

"And what do you do in your spare time, Renee?" I grimaced slightly at the name. I didn't really like it when anybody called me that. None of the human noticed, but I could hear Clay quiet laugh.

"I read, listen to music, write, and hang out." She raised an eyebrow at my notion. As I sat down I said, "I'm just an average kid."

I heard a voice from the other side of the room; it was rough, and hard. I turned to see the speaker move his lips and noticed that he had dark hair the hung into his eyes and brilliant blue eyes. "She's far from average. Did you see her body? I wonder if she even has to work out…" I turned to look back at Clay, who had obviously heard what I had and was giggling like a little child.

I smacked him on the back of the head, and if it hadn't of been as quickly as it was the whole class would have heard the hard thump. "Don't be sour." He pulled out his notebook and a pen. "Just because come poor sap likes you, e may be an okay kind of guy. You never know."

"Can it, Clay." I began to copy down the teachers notes and started to think to myself at the same time.

One of the reasons that my family and I had moved so much was because of me. I had never dated any of the boys, and for that they all found me social awkward. After a while kids would try and follow me where ever I went, and they created their own rumors about me. How I was really an angel sent to rid the world of immortal sin. How I thought I was too good for everyone. In the end all the rumors hurt me. If I could cry, than I would have, but I couldn't. I was never able to make any friends after I left Forks, and I was beginning to think that maybe I should give some of the people here a chance. Maybe, I will be able to find a good friend.

As I erased a misspelling on my page a girl with fluffy brown hair turned around and faced me. "Um," she had to take a breath when she saw my eyes flick over her face, "I'm supposed to pass you this." She extended her hand and I caught a whiff of her scent. Sunflower seeds. Interesting. She swallowed and looked over at Clay, who was trying to balance his pencil on his forefinger. He noticed her presence and glanced up at her, and threw her a quick smile. Feeling a little better than before she turned back in her seat, and sat up a little starter, tossing her fluffy brown hair over her shoulder so that Clay could get a look at her face.

"What does it say?" He put down the pencil so that he could take a look at the note now spread across my desk.

Reenee,

I hop that this dosn't seem to forwerd of me, but I would realy like to have lunch with you today. I was hoping that maybee I might be able to sho you arond Forks, and maybee do our homework together or sumething.

See you at lunch, (hopfully)

Justin

Justin. The name hit me hard, as if all the wind had been taken out of my lungs. I never wanted to be with anyone whose name was Justin, not after what I had done to that poor boy so long ago. "Oh my God. I don't think he wants to do homework with him, I think he needs a tutor. Does he even know that he has so many grammatical and spelling errors?" Clay looked at me. I could tell that he was going to ask me what I was going to do. "Forward little one isn't he?

"You're telling me." I would have laughed out loud, if not for the fact that I was in the middle of a classroom. "But you know that we can't do things like this. It would totally ruin things for us here; we have to alienate ourselves from them." I picked up my pencil wrote a response.

Justin,

I hope that this is not too hard for you to handle, but I am afraid that I won't be able to have lunch with you. You see, my brother is painfully shy, and I don't think that he is ready to be so immersed yet.

I glanced over to Clay and noticed that his face had dropped. "No. Try again." He said as I erased was I had originally put on the paper and began to write again.

No thank you.

With admiration of the fact that you think a note will get me to date you,

Reneesme Cullen

A chuckle from clay told me that what I had written was perfectly acceptable so I folded the note back up again and tapped on the fluffy girl's shoulder. When she turned around she threw a dazzling smile at Clay that would have sent any normal man off his feet, but he merely raised an eyebrow, and she turned around with my note in her hand a little let down.

"Do you even think he will know what it means?" Clay and I had picked up our pencils and were copying down the notes. "I mean, if his grammar and spelling is that bad, what makes you think he will understand the correct format?"

The first hour of the day went by without another interruption and Clay and I stood as soon as the bell rang and walked, as humanly possibly, towards the door.

"Renee!" I heard my nickname and stopped. As I turned around I noticed Justin hurrying towards me with my note clenched in his hand. Clay put a warning hand on my arm and we both waited for Justin to reach us.

"Yes?"

"Look, I'm sorry if I seemed too forward in class. It's just, you're really pretty, and I was hoping that you might want to have lunch?" I looked him up and down and swore that he did not know how to read. I thought that my note was extremely clear, and what was worse was that a small crowd had gathered around us and were waiting for my response.

"I'm terribly sorry," I began and I saw his face fall. "I just need to become accustomed to this place before I go and try to find potential boyfriends. I just need some time." To make my words have meaning I reached out and, lightly, touched his arm.

In that one gesture his whole attitude changed. "Alright then, I'll bring my table to you guys at lunch. That way you can get to know some of the people here, and we can still spend time together, sense I am a potential boyfriend and all."

I heard Clay laugh and I smiled at Justin and turned to go to our next class. "He must really like you; he's looking past all of the weirdness and everything."

"Yeah, I know. It's too dangerous. But I guess we'll have to endure their mindless chatter for a whole half an hour today."

Our next class was history where our teacher, Mr. Little, insisted that we both stand up and say our favourite food, movie, and artist. I almost laughed when clay almost said "Polar bear," as his favourite food and we both laughed out loud when he said our next topic of discussion would be over Count Dracula of Transylvania.

After history was Spanish, and after we both proved to her that we didn't need to be in the class, for we had lived in Spain before England, Profe Gibbler was content with us sitting quietly in the back of the class as she taught.

I couldn't take my mind off of him, no matter how hard I tried. I had caught tidbits of James' scent all day. The anticipation of possibly being in the same room with him was, quite, taking my breath away. However, if we were in the same class I don't know how I could last. In my home he had made my mouth water, and I knew that if I was forced to be near him, then I would only have more heat to my thirst.

Clay and I walked to our math class together, silently. He seemed to understand that I had a lot on my mind, and didn't bother me. I knew that he and I would become great friends, because I hated talking so much. I felt like my jaw would fall off if I had to do it again.

As soon as Clay and I entered the math room we both stiffened. Through our noses we could smell that there was another of our kind nearby, maybe in the same room as us. We are polite, if anything, and if there is another clan living in this town than we will have to leave. However, we are a curious kind, and want to know.

As Clay and I moved towards the back of the room to two vacant desks, we kept looking around. The vampire didn't smell like he was too close, maybe a couple of rooms over. But still, we would have to be on the look out of a possible conflict.

We sat down, and the rest of the class sat, but there was no teacher at the front of the room waiting for us. We sat for almost five minutes before a tall man rushed through the door.

His skin was almost as pale as ours, but his eyes carried the typical butterscotch colour. He had dark black hair and a long face. He turned towards the class and sighed. The smell hit Clay and me hard, and softy a growl emitted from Clay's chest. Any normal human would never hear it, but the teacher looked towards the back of the class startled by the sound. I rested a hand on Clay's chest to stop him from getting up and leaving, and the other vampire stared at us from behind his desk.

"I'm sorry for being late class." His voice wasn't like other vampires, or ours. It was rougher, more human. "I forgot my lesson plan at home, and I was going to try and come up with a new lesson plan." Groans erupted around us as our fellow classmates showed their discontent. He raised his hands. "However, I am not that smart of a guy and realized that I could not do that. So you have a free period! Go out and have fun!"

The whole class stood, save Clay and myself, and flocked out of the door to get to the lunchroom early. Clay rose first and ran, at his vampire speed, towards the front desk. I was right behind him and stood next to him. All three of us stared at each other, wondering why the other was here. Clay, however, got impatient and let out another growl.

"I know what you are." The teacher raised his hands to us, palms us, as a universal sign of peace. "I have no intention of giving you away or hurting you in any kind."

"What are you?" Clay was leaning forward onto the desk. "You don't sound like one of us. You don't walk like one of us."

"Clay, be gentle." I was trying to pull Clay back away from the desk, but he wouldn't budge. "We are the Cullen Clan; we've been here for centuries, though we have been vacant for a while. What clan are you from? Did the Denali send you?" I felt Clay shudder at the name of Denali.

"I'm not from a clan." He gestured for us to pull up chairs in front of his desk. "My I never met my vampire half."

"You think you're half vampire?" Clay snorted. "You're not half vampire, at most you're quarter vampire."

"Clay!" I turned back towards the teacher. "What he's trying to say is that you don't smell strongly enough for you to be a half vampire. We thought that you were down the hall, not outside the door when we first smelled you." I placed a hand on Clay's arm. "This is my brother, Clay, and I am Reneesme."

"Jeff Nevinski." The teacher shook my hand and moved to shake Clay's but Clay wouldn't take it.

"So, how old are you? My mother used to speak of how vampires could be hundreds of years old and never die. She also told me about how some of them have special powers. How they are perfect at everything. Is it all true?"

"Ooh, well I am around two hundred years old and Clay is, what are you?"

"One hundred." Clay's voice was barely higher than a whisper.

"Wow, you guys are old. I'm only fifty. Do you have any special abilities? My mother spoke of vampires who could read minds; tell the future, control emotions, and all sorts of things." He looked at us as if he expected us to spill everything about our kind to him.

I placed a hand on Clay's arm and showed him everything. I showed him Alice's, my fathers, and Jasper's faces. Could Nevinski possibly know about my family? Who was this kid's mother anyways? Clay shrugged his shoulders. "Look," Clay's tone was forceful, "It would not be wise of us to tell you everything about our clan. That is for our leader to decide."

Nevinski placed his hands up again, "Peace. Of course, I completely understand. I was just wondering if you knew a certain vampire. You see my mother was a human, and she met my father, but she said that he wasn't like other vampires. But he left something with her, and I've been searching for him my whole life." He picked the long jacket off the back of his chair. "My mom says that a vampire's scent never goes away. But my nose isn't good enough to try and pick up his scent. Could you-?"

I didn't want to help him. I was more concerned about my own problems at this school, yet I found myself standing and taking the jacket in my own hands. When I brought it up to my nose I smelled something, familiar. I couldn't quite pin point the scent, but I knew that I had smelled it before. "The scent is familiar, but I can't tell you from whom exactly. You see, I've met so many of my kind on my travels that it would be almost impossible for me to pick out whose scent it is.

The bell rang, signifying the end of the hour. "You two need to get to lunch. If you two ever need anything than just let me know. And I would love to meet your clan, as soon as possible." He stood as we left the room.

"We'll let you know, Nevinski." I said as I entered the hallway. I couldn't believe that I had lasted through half of the day without killing anybody, and without running into James.

Clay and I sat down at a table in the back left corner and were content with waiting for everybody to leave the lunch line for us to go and get something to eat. But my nose had other ideas. As I sat in my seat, I caught the smell that had sent my throat to burn. My animal instincts were going to take hold of me. I searched around the lunch room till I saw the source of my problems; and then I locked eyes on James.


	6. Decode

**Decode**

His gaze was not warm, but it wasn't cold. It felt like he was looking right through me, to see the elaborate painting on the wall. His brilliant green eyes then looked away, only to flick back at me a few seconds later. What was this human emotion? Was he panicked? Was he happy? Was he scared?

"Reneesme?" Clay waved a hand in front of my face and I looked at him. "What's going on? Is there another one here?" I placed a hand on his arm and showed him James, than he turned around to look at him. "Wow, strange eyes. They're totally different from everyone else's. How do you know this guy?" I showed him what had happened the day before, how I had met him and he had seemed less than interested in me. Though I was hoping that Clay wouldn't pick up on the strange discomfort I felt for James not being interested. "Heavy stuff; good think we can't get mixed up in those little human problems." He laughed, got up, and went to the lunch line. I however, did not follow; I wanted to examine this human a little more.

Every gesture of his was pure magic. The slightest sigh sent shivers down my spine. He was a quiet boy, only saying a few words every once in a while, though with each word he had meaning behind it. He didn't just talk to talk.

"I'm going to go and sit with her; are any of you pansies going to come with me?" I heard Justin's voice and saw him sitting only a few seats down from James. Justin stood up and began to walk over to me; I would have left if I hadn't noticed that four guys were also following him, and James was one of them.

"How do you like the food so far?" Justin laughed as if he had told one of the funniest jokes ever known to man. All of his friends laughed with him, except for James.

"I haven't had the chance to get something to eat yet. My brother went and got lunch first." Right on cue Clay sat next to me and handed me a slice of pizza, an apple, snickers bar, and a bottle of water. I nodded my head in thank to Clay, and we both looked at the group of boys sitting with us.

"So, have you met any of these guys yet, Renee. There's Jason, Jackson, Jarrod, and James; and me, Justin."

"Are you all related?" Clay said, with his eyebrow raised.

"No, why would you think that?" Justin said a little harshly.

"Because all your names start with a J; I thought it might be some kind of weird family thing."

"All of our names start with a J?" Justin looked, confused and then looked at the group of boys sitting around him, "Did any of you guys notice that?" All the boys shook their head. "This guy is hilarious." The boys started to laugh, and I looked at Clay. Had I really found the stupidest boys in school to come and sit with me? When my eyes met James' frame I noticed he wasn't laughing; rather he was shaking his head like he couldn't believe he was really friends with such idiots.

His eyes caught mine and for a moment I thought that I saw them change colour, as if they went from green to black in a single heartbeat and then back again. "I rested my hand on Clay's knee, so that the boys didn't see it, and asked him if he saw what I had just seen. His eyes flicked up, for an instant, and then back down. So he had seen it, I wonder if the humans had as well…

"So what class do you guys have next?" Justin said after he was done laughing.

"We have Integrated Chemistry and Physics."

"We have Gym."

Clay and I looked at each other. How was it possible that we didn't have all the same classes? There was no way that we could help each other deal with humans if we weren't in the same classes.

"Cool, man." Justin put his arm around Clay's shoulder. "We have gym next hour too, we've needed a fifth man on our basketball team and you'd be perfect."

"My name is Clay." Only I could hear the resentment in Clay's voice.

"Dude, your skin is so weird. It's like cold, but not."

"Isn't that how skin is naturally?" When James spoke my eyes couldn't help but look over to his person. His voice was so melodious, so absolutely perfect. But his breath, it had his scent so strongly embedded in it. Even though he has said the statement aside, his smell still hit me hard. Clay could feel my hand tense on his knee, and checked a quick glance at me. There was no way I would be able to last an hour with James in the same room with me.

"Whatever, man." Justin shrugged. "Don't you have ICP next hour too, man?" Justin looked at James while he nodded. "Cool, you can like, take Renee.

If my heart had been a normal one, than it would have skipped a beat at the thought of James walking with me to class; instead my heart sped up. I knew that the inner monster inside of me would try all it could to find a way out and kill the poor boy. True, James was incredibly handsome, and his voice was perfect; but isn't anything that is tasty perfect? Isn't a steak perfect to a starving man? Isn't a full bodied wine the best to sample? James was definitely my type of wine, and I needed a taste.

I stood up from the table. "Clay, I guess I'll meet you in Choir after gym." Clay nodded, clearly disappointed in the fact that he had to go to gym with these clowns.

As I left eh cafeteria I could hear Justin's voice: "Dude, you're in Choir?"

I walked down the hallway towards my ICP class when I had to stop, because I felt dizzy. I had never felt dizzy before in my life; not even when Jacob used to spin me around. I felt pressure behind my eyes, and pretty soon I was seeing white spots. I searched for the word to categorize my pain. Migraine? I had never had one before, but before I had left Forks my human friends told me all about them. The pressure behind my eyes, the dizziness, the spots, they all were symptoms of migraines. But I had never gotten a migraine in my entire existence; how could I start getting them now?

"Reneesme! Wait!" Even if James had said "Reneesme you hair smells like horse shit, stop and let me tell you how much I hate it!" I would turn around for him. I saw him walking towards me, his messenger bag swinging and him holding my purse in the other hand. After a few humanly long moments he reached me holding my purse outstretched from his person; it was as if he didn't want to be near me at all.

"Thank you." I began to walk slowly back towards the classroom, and then noticed that my migraine had gone as quickly as it had come. "Have you ever gotten a migraine before?" When I turned to look at him I was surprised to find that e was right next to me, close enough to touch.

"No, I don't think I ever have gotten one before. My mom gets them all the time though; do your parents get them all the time?"

I had been coached on what to say about my parents on the flight to Forks. "My parents are dead."

"Ooh. Do you miss them?"

I was shocked, on the inside. This human who couldn't give one fig about me was asking about something emotional. Was this just an attempt at a conversation? Did all humans talk this way now? "They died when I was very young. I hardly remember them at all."

"So who do you live with?" We were almost to the classroom so I would have salvation from his scent in only a few moments.

"I live with the new local Doctor and his wife. They adopted Clay too, and we have a few brothers and sisters that the Cullens adopted a while ago." What the hell was I doing? Spilling my family out to him? Yet talking with him was so easy, so second nature to me.

We arrived, as I had planned, early to the classroom; so the only person that was in there was the teacher, . "Ah, this must be the new student, Reneesme Hale?"

"Reneesme Cullen, sir. Clay Hale is my brother." I smiled; I couldn't help but be happy that somebody could pronounce my name correctly.

"Ah, yes well, we will need to find you a lab partner. Let me see who I have on my list that is in need of one." Harrell pulled out a slip of paper from his desk and began to look down it, scanning for an empty space. "Here. You can be lab partners with James."

"What?" James spoke from his desk in the middle of the room. "I really don't need a lab partner Mr. Harrell, I've been doing quite fine on my own."

It was a blow. A hard punch in the stomach. A slap to the face. What was this kids problem? Why was he having such a hard time being around me? Did I smell bad, or did I have a huge zit on the end of my nose? "If he feels more comfortable with me not being his lab partner I really have no problem with it."

"Oh no, he;s just shy. It will be good for him to have a partner, he hardly talks to anybody." Mr. Harrell pointed, with his pen, towards the desk where I was to go and sit. As I began to walk over to the desk, James turned and opened the window, which caused a breeze to blow into the room towards me.

I heard the low growl that erupted from my chest. I could feel the inner monster inside of me turn over and awaken. My throat was burning with his scent tingling down to my toes. I sat next to him and opened up a spare notebook and took out my pen. After twirling it on my fingers, to try and get my mind of his scent, another breeze came into the room sending his scent towards me. This time I gripped my pen so hard that it snapped in my hand. I looked up to see his face staring at me, eyes wide in shock.

"Are you okay?" He looked down at the broken pen in my hands back to my face.

"Yeah, that was just a really cold breeze. Do you mind shutting the window for a while; it's kind of aggravating my migraine."

"Sure." When James turned to shut the window all the students began to file into the classroom. In a few minutes the bell had rung and Mr. Harrell began his lecture.

Though I tried very hard to concentrate on the teacher I couldn't help but feel the electricity between James and myself. It was if a current were trying to tie us together. Whenever I glanced over at James, he had pulled his chair as far away from me as possible, and never met my gaze.

After Mr. Harrell was done with the lecture we all noticed that we had a few minutes to spare. "Talk amongst yourselves, I don't have anything else to say."

The whole room erupted with sound, all except for my partner and me. He looked over at me, and smiled, shyly. "So, where did you move here from?"

"England."

"Why did you move here?"

"My family wanted to move here, I had nothing to do with the decision." It was a lie, but it was only a small one. Besides, it wasn't as if he would get to know me very well. I couldn't have human friends again.

"Right." He drummed his fingers on the desk. "What sort of movies do you like?"

Was this a real question, or was he just pulling my leg? "I like the old Tim Burton films."

"I know! He's a genius!" I turned to look at him and found his eyes shift colours again. They went from green to blue, maybe he was wearing contacts and they were slipping around his eyes.

"Yeah, I always thought so." It was strange. This whole situation was strange. One moment he didn't like me, the next he was talking my ear off about my family and what kind of movies I enjoyed. This kid had to be bipolar or something.

"My favourite has always been Sweeny Todd." My hand gripped the side of the table, hard enough to put a small dent in it. It was a good thing that James didn't notice. "He was just a genius with getting Depp and Carter together like that." This was sending me up the wall. Not only was his conversation intoxicating, but his scent was driving me bonkers.

"Yes, that is one of my favourites as well." I felt a tug inside of me, and I knew immediately what was happening. Jacob. The last time I had watched that movie I was with Jacob.

"You know he has a new movie out. Do you think you might like to go and see it this weekend?"

I didn't know what to say. I would love to see the Tim Burton movie, I had planned on seeing the Tim Burton movie, yet could I really go with him? He was so cryptic with me. One moment he hated me and didn't want to be near me, and the next he was asking me to movies. I felt my foot begin to bounce. "Sure, why not?" What the hell was I thinking?

"Great, let me get your number." His voice had lifted. Was it somehow possible that the answer to decoding him was accepting a simple movie invitation? He wrote down my number on a slip of paper and then stowed it in his pocket. "I'll call you tonight, promise." Then, for the first time, he smiled at me. It was a breathtaking experience, and I hadn't felt so short of breath since I had last been with…Oh God.

The bell rang and he was up and by the door before I could tell him not to call me, or even to give back my number. As I walked through the hallway toward choir I decided to grab Clay before he entered the room and drag him out to my car. "We're going home."

"Isn't it bad to cut school?"

"Look, we have a problem here. We need to go home, now." I was glad that he didn't ask any more questions. It was nice to have somebody just get in the car.

We were home in less than ten minutes and Clay was surprisingly silent the entire length of the ride. When we got into the house my parents were already waiting for me on the couch. I glanced over to Clay who pulled out his phone. "I texted them on the way, you didn't think I would just sit there did you?"

"Reneesme, what happened? My father was by my side in less than a second. "Did you do something to a human?"

"Edward, I doubt she would ever do anything that would put this family in danger." My mother was always calm and collected, but she was also serious when she used my father's name, instead of Darling or Dear. "What happened, Reneesme?"

"Look Mom, Dad, nothing happened. I just met this human who seemed to take an interest in me, and it just so happened that I might have taken an interest in him as well."

"What?" My father had a shocked expression on his face, while my mother looked somewhat worried. "You mean, you might like somebody else?"

"No; not that kind of interest. I mean, he smells so good! I never knew that a human could smell so appetizing. Just him sighing is enough to make we want to rip his head off. But when I thought about doing it, for some reason I couldn't."

"That's a good thing, sweetheart." My mother was back to smiling at me. "That means that you have a good sense of control over yourself. We're very proud of you, aren't we, honey?"

"Yes." My father's eyes were wondering, he was far away from here. "We're very proud. Would you please excuse me for a moment?" Without waiting for a response from my mother he walked out of the front door and began to run for the woods.

I walked up the stairs and went to my room, where I flopped down on my bed and turned on Carter Burwell. How was this possible? I couldn't go out with this guy. He was a human, and besides what about Jacob? What about Jacob? I had been harping on Jacob for more than two hundred years…wasn't it time to leave the past in the past?

I closed my eyes and as sleep came to me I hear the faint howl of a wolf, and couldn't help but think of the man that I had loved.


	7. Memories

**Memories**

My dream was a memory; though I wished it could be a reality again. It was one of the happiest days of my life, my sixteenth birthday party. So many wonderful things had happened that night, the family jewels were given to me, the first Cullen Creation was given, my first car, but the most important part of that night was my very first kiss.

My whole family, including all of our 'cousins' were present in my home when I had gotten off from school. I hated surprises, so I had made my family promise that there would be no surprise party.

I was sitting in my bedroom reading The Other Boleyn Girl, when my mother knocked on my door. "Reneesme, it's time for your birthday hunt! The whole clan is waiting on you, sweetie." When I told my family that I wanted nothing more than a 'birthday dinner' they all complied to have a hunt on my birthday every year. I hated gifts, so this was really all they could do for me.

I walked with my mother, hand in hand, down the stairs showing her my day. She smiled at me when we got to the foot of the stairs. "You're a very beautiful girl, Reneesme. You look so much like your father, but you have my old eyes." I loved my eyes, chocolate brown and unreadable. "You grow prettier every day, honeybunch." I blushed, to my extent, and she led me out to the back porch.

I was truly surprised to find all of my friends waiting for me. "Mom." I was going to start on a rant about how this is the exact thing that I had not wanted. There were tables leading down to the edge of the woods and they had candles on them for light; a huge dance floor with a DJ stands. Tiny lights twinkled through the trees, and large white ribbons hung everywhere.

"I know that this isn't what you wanted, but you're only sixteen once, Reneesme." I rolled my eyes at the family joke and put on my best smile.

Everyone flooded up to me. They touched my hair, my cheeks, and were all saying how much I had grown. Over and over again I repeated, "Thank you all for coming, you've made this a very special day for me." However, I couldn't help but notice that everybody was in formal dress, while I was clad in blue jeans and a t-shirt.

I noticed that my mother had stepped back into the house and changed into a long dark blue gown that accented her pale skin. My father stepped towards her and whispered "I've always loved that colour on you." I knew that if my mother could blush, than her whole face would be scarlet.

After greeting everybody at the party I wondered over to where my Aunts were sitting. Alice was in a long black dress, with triangles cut out in strange places, but it seemed to work for her. Rose was lightly tapping her foot to the music playing and wearing a long silver dress with her hair hanging loosely down to her waist.

Rose noticed me first. She came and wrapped me in her arms for a hug. "Are you enjoying everything so far, honey?"

"Yeah, but I don't really fit in." As soon as there was a "but" in my sentence Alice was in front of me, concern playing on her face.

"What's wrong? Did someone say something? Is there someone here that you don't want to be here?"

"Oh no. Everybody is fine. It's just, well; I'm not exactly dressed for this occasion. Everybody here is in black tie dress, and I'm in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Oh that." Alice gave a light laugh, and I could see Rose hide a smile behind her hand. "I think it's time for you to get your first birthday gift, Reneesme."

"But Alice, I said I didn't want anything."

"Jasper!" Alice turned back to me. "You're right, Nessie, we can't expect you to be the bell of your ball and not have the best dress in the whole party." Jasper appeared at her side and flashed me a quick smile, he took my hand and they both began to lead me back to the house.

They led me up to their bedroom and Alice told me to wait with Jasper while she went to go get the gift. "Don't worry, Nessie, I had a say in the colour. Your Aunt wanted to go with this god awful pink colour, but I talked it out of her."

Alice came back into the room carrying a garment bag over her arm. "Out, Jasper! Scoot!" Jasper stood and left the room while Alice handed me the bag.

I placed it on the bed and unzipped the bag. It was a long white dress. The laced sleeves would fall to the middle of my fingers. The bodice had designs of seed pearls as flowers; and in the back was a built in corset. The hem of the dress was trimmed with lace, and was the neckline. I lightly touched the pearls with the tips of my fingers. "Alice." I looked at her, and she was bouncing with excitement. "This is absolutely beautiful. This should be a wedding dress, not a party dress. Where on earth did you find it?"

"I didn't find it. I made it." She had always made my Halloween costumes, after my mother failed to make me the princess dress that I wanted for Halloween, and Alice refused to send me outside in something that resembled a ruffled chicken. She raised an eyebrow as she inspected the dress. "Is it too much?" I had never heard her utter the words 'too much' when she spoke about clothing. "This is my first Cullen Creation. I think my second will be your wedding dress. She placed a hand on my cheek. "Now hurry up and get changed, everybody is waiting to see this."

"You mean, Mom and Dad don't know what it looks like?"

"Of course not! I was very care full not to think about it while your father was in the room. I didn't want this to be spoiled at all. I did the same thing with your mothers wedding dress, your father was always itching to know what it looked like." She left the room, and I began to pull on the dress. When I was done I went and stood in front of the mirror that hung on the back of her closet door.

Alice was truly amazing with a needle. She had made my waist, which was already slim, even smaller. My reddish blonde hair clashed perfectly with the cream coloured gown. I turned to see myself sideways and I noticed a huge problem.

I said her name softly and Alice was at my side in a minture, turning me to see my dress at different angles. "There's only one problem."

"What's the problem? You look gorgeous, Nessie."

"My, um-" I waved my hands vaguely over my chest and to my surprise she let out a laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Well, Reneesme they've always been that big. You've just never worn anything that could possibly accent them. You're truly your mother's daughter, always wearing jeans and t-shirts. She held out a pair of matching white shoes, which I put on. "Perfect. This dress will never fit anybody like it fits you, Nessie." She picked me up and ran me to the back door of the house, placing me gently before it. "Show 'em how it's done, Reneesme."

Everybody flooded towards me, once again. There was a constant stream of Oohing and Ahhing about how well the dress looked on me; about how I never wore things like this. When I told them that my Aunt Alice had made this dress they then flooded to her, asking if she wouldn't mind making a prom dress for her, or making their wedding dress.

I turned and found my mother smiling and my father frowning. "You look beautiful, Reneesme. Alice is a true visionary!" My mother hugged me and then drew back to look at the pearls that clung to the garment. "Look, darling, Alice has done designs of freesias, how extraordinary!" It was a well known fact that my father thought that my mother had smelt of freesias when she was human, and how he also thought that I smelled of them as well.

"I don't know." My father took a sip of the campaign in his glass then shuddered as it went down his throat. "It's too low cut. We'll have to get Alice to fix it." He took another swig of the liquid while my mother winked at me. "I don't understand how humans can drink this god awful stuff. It feels like gunk going down my throat."

"Darling, if you don't like it, don't drink it."

"There's my kiddo!" I turned to find m Grandpa Charlie behind me with his arms opened wide for a hug. I embraced him, and then he drew back, looking me over. "Well now, where did you find this dress?"

"Alice made it for me, Grandpa."

"Well, she didn't finish the front of the gown, Edward; make your sister fix it." I could hear my mother laugh behind me as she dragged my father onto the dance floor. "Well, how is the birthday girl?"

"I'm well, Grandpa. I really don't like all of this fuss though."

"I know exactly what you mean, Carlie." He put his hand inside of his pocket and drew out a small box. "This is why I'm going to give this to you now, so that people can't make a big fuss over it." Grandpa Charlie and I were alike in the aspect of we hated surprises, and we didn't like making a fuss out of things. We were simple people, calm people.

I opened up the box to find a thin, silver necklace. On it were diamonds and sapphires. "But Grandpa, how did you-? "

"This was your great-grandmothers. Renee and I were going to give it to Bella on her wedding day, but we weren't able to find it in time. But I found it this past weekend and I decided that you should have it." I wrapped my arms around his torso, and could cry. It was hard to be close to him, he had known what I was, what my mother and father were, and what Jacob was. Yet he refused to join us, he said "It's not natural, I don't want to live forever." Knowing that one day this man might die, was the saddest thing I could think of.

But he was happy. He had remarried to a smart woman, who was an attorney in Seattle. When I had first met him, I knew that he will still in love with his ex-wife; yet at that time I did not know what love was. However, after he had re-married he was profoundly happier, and that was all I ever wanted from him.

He turned me away from him and fastened the necklace on me. "There, now." He turned me so that he could look at it. "You know, you look almost like your great-grandmother. Her grandmother, your mother, and you all have those chocolate brown eyes." He pulled me into another hug and kissed my hair. "Though, I have to admit, you are the most temperate one of all those females."

Grandpa Charlie left me to go speak with Carlisle, and I was left to roam around the party looking. He had to have been here somewhere. He never missed my birthday; in fact he never missed any day unless he had to. I even went as far as to try and smell him, but he wasn't there. I sat down in a chair close to the dance floor, upset that Jacob had not bothered to come.

"Will everybody please step off the dance floor?" I could hear Alice's voice over the loud speaker. "The father of the birthday girl would like to have his traditional swing dance with his daughter." My father stepped out of the crowd and waited for me on the dance floor, a small smile playing on his face.

It was known in our family that this was my father's preferred choice of dance. When he was young he had experienced only the shyness of the waltz; yet as his life took him throughout the decades he found swing vibrant. I remembered when I found him and my mother dancing to swing music in Forks when I was only a child. I had begged him to teach me, but he was still afraid of being too rough with me. It was only after my mother spoke with him, for months, that he agreed to teach me the vibrant elegance that was swing dancing; though he did drop me on my head a few times.

He led me through the steps without even thinking. These were quick steps, and potentially dangerous, if I had been a normal person. The dance had become so second nature to us, for we danced it on each other's birthday's every year, we both could look around us and pay more attention to other people than to each other.

And because of this I saw him, leaning on a tree on the side of the forest. My Jacob was in a black suit, with a white undershirt, and dress pants. I caught a smile from him and as a breeze rustled through the trees his scent gripped me. I noticed then, that there were others around him, his pack. Seth Clearwater was there, smiling at me and even dared a wave. Yet his sister was also there, sulking behind Jacob, and casting me a look that contained pure venom.

"Great." I heard my dad mummer, "That silly girl is here." There was no secret for Leah's dislike for me and my entire family. Yet I always had to wonder, if she didn't like us why was she always around? She was beta to the pack; if Jacob was not there then she should have been in charge. Yet, she was always by Jacob's side, always glaring.

The dance ended and my father took a bow, while I laughed. Rose and Emmitt came to the centre of the floor with us, and Aunt Rose was holding a microphone. "What wonderful dancers they are, aren't they?" A round of applause echoed through the woods as Rose beamed at my father and I.

"Now, Nessie," my Uncle had taken the mic from Rose, "this, I hear, is a customary tradition for the turning of sixteen. You know how much your Aunt likes to go shopping, and how much she likes to take me with her. Her first try was this horrible frilly pink dress with a little pony on the front; but I totally talked her out of it. So we went to this dealer and they gave us a great deal on a brand new Mercedes Benz.

"What?" My father was standing next to me, his jaw dropped.

"Yeah, Edward, I'm sorry but I saw this and I knew that she had to have it." Emmitt reached inside of his pocket and drew out a car key. "It's white, four-seater, great sound system, and black top."

"You got my daughter a convertible?" I could feel my father start to tense up next to me. "You got her something dangerous?"

"Chill, Ed." Emmitt tossed the key to me. "It's a white base and a black top, Ness, I figured that would be the best choice for you." Emmitt steered Rose off the floor, with my father following close behind them, and my mother rushing over to me.

"Don't worry, Reneesme, your father is just worried about you. She handed me a small mahogany box, which had intricate details of flowers on it. As I held the box I realized that this was the box that I had been too scared to touch when I was a child, for the fear of breaking whatever was inside.

"Mom."

"No, honey. This is your day. I want you to have these." I opened up the box to find two, heavy, silver combs inlaid with sapphires. These were the combs that my mother had worn at her wedding. She placed the combs in my hair. "Your father and I didn't know when you were going to get married, so we decided to give these to you now, and your Grandpa gave you the other part." I touched the necklace on my neck.

"Thanks, Mom, for not making this a big deal." She enveloped me in her cool embrace.

"I'm going to go and save your car. Have fun at your party, honey!"

I turned and found Jacob striding over towards me. His face had a warm, broad smile plastered on it, and I could tell that his eyes wouldn't look at anybody else, other than me. He engulfed me in his arms and I could feel his breath in my hair. "Reneesme, you look beautiful, Nessie." He spun me so that he could see the whole dress. "Wow. Well I really don't want to ruin your dress…"

"But?" He was toying with me.

"I have your birthday present. Plus your family members are all occupied. I'm sure that nobody would see us if we slipped away for a few minutes. He twined my fingers in between his and quickly led me away from the party.

We walked, hand in hand, into the forest. I knew where we were going; we were going to our spot. We reached our hammock and he sat me down.

"I don't want you to get your pretty new dress dirty." He said as he knelt before me. "Reneesme, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You make everyday so wonderful for me, I only wish I had enough money to buy you pretty things like what your family got you."

"Jacob." I placed my hand on his cheek and felt the normal burning feeling beneath my fingers. It sent shivers up my spine and I couldn't help but smile as he turned his face into my hand to kiss my palm.

Jacob and I had never been close, in the intimate way. We had no idea what to expect. The mix of a vampire and a werewolf mating was a dangerous concept. I had heard, though my family wouldn't admit it, that vampires were extremely passionate; they would often brake things and make a lot of noise. There was even a time when Esme had to send Rose and Emmitt to their own house, because they weren't able to keep their hands off each other. I had also heard about how werewolves were, though not as in detail, though I knew they must be rough, or maybe I would be too rough for Jacob. We both worried that I would get carried away, and we had no idea what would happen if a vampire bit a werewolf.

Jacob brought my face closer to his. "Trust me Reneesme, trust me." I tensed, I had no idea what to do or say. I didn't know which way to turn my head, or if I would try and rip off Jacob's head.

His lips brushed softly against mine. As he held his face, one of his hands wrapped around my head and he twined his fingers in my hair. I placed my hand on his cheeks and tried to control myself. Yet, my battle was lost when he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss. Immediately my hands snaked to his neck to hold him, and I could feel his blood pumping through his lips. I could feel him try and tear away from me, but my lock on him was strong and I could feel the small monster in my rising.

"Whoa, Reneesme, slow down." He had somehow broken the kiss and had managed to put my hands on my lap. "Now I guess we need to learn how to limit ourselves."

I woke up to my phone vibrating in my pocket. As I reached for it I began to get upset at the fact that the best memory of my life had been taken away by a silly phone call.

360-295-3808

Who was this?

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is James Clearwater calling for Reneesme Cullen?" He sounded extremely nervus, to the point that I was afraid that his voice would crack.

Holy shit. "This is she, hi, James."

"I was wondering about tomorrow, you know the date thing…"

"Wasn't that for this weekend?" Maybe I would be able to wiggle out of this somehow.

"Reneesme tomorrow is Saturday."

Awww shit. "Right, sorry. I had a momentary lapse of the world around me. Of course tomorrow is Saturday. So what did you have in mind, James?"

"I was thinking just dinner and a movie, but there is a small hitch in my plan. My car is in the shop, so I was wondering if you would be able to drive." His voice was clearer, but I could tell that he was still nervous.

"Sure, just give me your address and what time you want me to be there." Why was I agreeing to this? I should have made up some excuse, Clay is vomiting everywhere, my mom broke her leg, and my dad said I'm not allowed to have any boys that he doesn't know in my car.

"I was thinking that around six-ish would be a really good time. We could go out to eat and then catch the nine o'clock show."

"Perfect."

"I live on 293 Wide Acre Road."

Wide Acre? Wasn't that the name of an extremely racy novel…? "I'll be there at six then."

"Great!" Now he was happy. "Well then I will see you again tomorrow at six. Bye."

"Bye."

This was a disaster. Nothing short of a fucking disaster. I knew that only one person would be able to help me, and that was Jasper and Emmitt.

As I walked down the stairs to where, I was hoping, my uncles would be I heard my mother and father fighting in the living room.

"She can't. I will not allow it."

"Edward, she is not a little girl anymore. She's just fine."

"She is my daughter; I say that she will not see that boy anymore. Don't you understand, Bella? This situation is too dangerous for the family."

"You're being extremely thick-headed. You didn't hold back from the danger that you put forth to your family all those years ago with me. Besides, there's no real reason for her not to see him."

"There's every reason in the world for her not to see him." I could tell that my father was getting aggravated.

"And that is?"

"She'll throw her life away; again."

"Excuse me?" Mom was pissed, I could tell and I wasn't even in the room.

"Ever since Jacob died, she did nothing but mope around. For two hundred and fifteen years, Isabella. What will she do if she gets close to this one? What will she do when he dies? Will she be sad for another two centuries? Because nobody wanted to be around her for the past two!"

I heard something then that I had never heard or thought possible from my mother. She let out a hiss that turned into a nasty snarl. The next sound was louder. My mother slapped my father, and it sounded like two boulders slamming into each other; the house even shook from the impact.

"How dare you!?" I heard another hiss escape her. "How dare you speak about Jacob and Reneesme like that!? He was her husband, Edward. Her husband. I'm sure that you would mope around for longer than two centuries if something were to happen to me."

"It's not the same, Bella." My father's voice was lowered. "James is a human, he's related to Leah for Christ's sake!"

"So?"

"Her decedents will fill that poor boys head with all sort of horrible propaganda about this family and about Reneesme. If you remember, she never liked the marriage."

I began to walk down the hall, towards the side family room that my uncles would be in. I had known that Leah did not like me a lot, but I didn't know that she disapproved of the marriage as a whole. She seemed so happy for me and Jacob the day that we had gotten married.

Jacob.

How could I do this? How could I possibly date somebody else? Jacob was my husband. My first and only love.

Only love?

James. Was I truly ready for the temptation that he was so willingly offering me? Was I in control of myself enough to put him into danger?

"Emmitt, Jasper?" my uncles were playing chess and the both looked up. "I need your help."


	8. Meet the Parents

**Meet the Parents**

**This chapter is dedicated to Broken Topaz a.k.a Hannah, who is solely in charge of pushing me to post this fanfiction on this website. Any way's Topaz, I know that I told you that this would be the date, but I thought it would be better for your dedicated chapter to be this one. I feel that this would happen in your house, if your parents were vampires, and there were more of you… any ways…now onto the story!!! Oh and by the way, for everyone that's been following this story, I'm really sorry about the end of this chapter…**

I was truly surprised at how easily my uncles were at hearing my news. Neither of them told me that I was putting the family in danger, or any of the other propaganda that my father believed in. Instead they both listened to what had happened, from the woods to the phone call.

"I take it your parents don't know about the woods, do they?" Said Jasper as he moved his knight and took Emmitt's pawn.

"No, I didn't feel it was completely necessary to tell them that part. Besides, it's not like I did anything bad in the woods. Plus they were totally going to go into my house! You would have done the same thing." I sat down on the beanbag chair and watched as Emmitt took one of Jasper's pawns with one of his own.

"True, Rose would have totally ripped their heads off if they came within a few feet of the first house that we had together." He took one glance at me from the game board. "I don't think that you should go on this date, Reneesme. It's not about the family, it's about you. I don't know if you can handle. At the house you still had a lot of room to breathe, but in a car you will have to hold your breath or endure it."

"I think that she can do it." Jasper moved his knight and took Emmitt's bishop. "She never tore off Jacob's head. Besides, she had the chance to kill this guy now twice. I think that she can handle it."

"Yes, but what happens if she can't handle it, Jazz? What does she do? This poor human might be in danger." Emmitt almost moved his knight, but moved his pawn instead closer to Jasper's castle. "You have to remember, Jasper, we got lucky with Edward and Bella."

"That's true. Your mother was a bit weird about wanting to become a vampire as soon as she found out Edward was. It was a little creepy."

"You can't give him any idea as to what you are Reneesme." I knew that when Emmitt or Jasper used my full name they were serious. "He has to be oblivious to the facts. That means no bringing him around here; or no going over there."

"Of course, she knows better than that Emmitt." Jasper moved his queen and took Emmitt's queen. "Be careful, Reneesme. Remember humans are extremely tempting. You'll have to be careful about not letting him get to close to you or anything like that." I nodded my head and began to walk out of the room when I heard my uncle say, "Oh and Emmitt check mate."

I stayed in my room for the rest of that day. I did my homework in my room, and I wasn't in the mood to go hunting with the rest of the family. I went to bed around ten thirty after I watched The Nightmare before Christmas, and put on some Paramore to fall asleep to.

But I woke up at two in the morning. My head was killing me, to the point where I thought I was having my first migraine. I was seeing white spots, and I felt pressure right behind me eyes. I noticed that it was only three in the morning and was extremely upset with myself.

I got out of bed and walked over to my window. From this spot I was able to see my house, and oddly it only made me think of James.

I got dressed in jeans and a sweater and put on my converse. I needed to make sure that I would be as quiet as humanly possible. I tied back my hair in a ponytail and then I grabbed my keys off my bed-side table and headed out of the door.

As I walked down the stairs I thought of what a huge risk I was taking, and how harmful this might be for my family.

"Nessie?" Clay was right behind me and looked confused. "Where are you going?"

"No where."

"Then why, may I ask, do you have your car keys?"

Ah, he got me there. "Look, I was just going to go and check something out. Sort of test myself on something, so just go back to bed."

"Test yourself on what, Nessie? Wait, OH MY GOD!" I thought that he would have my family members running down the stairs.

"Shut up, Clay! Look I just want to go to his house to see if I can take being around him when he's vulnerable."

"I knew you would tell me." Clay smirked, and I could tell that he was pleased with himself. "Well, if you're going to sneak out then so am I. I totally wanna be there when he wakes up and finds a strange girl staring at him.

"Absolutely not, Clay." I began to walk towards the door.

"If you're going to spy, than so am I. I don't want to be left out of everything that happens in this little town."

"Whatever. Just stay quiet; alright?" We were at my car and I unlocked the doors. Clay jumped into the passenger seat and began to bounce.

"Of course I will be quiet. We're spying aren't we?" He looked out of his window and noticed my white Mercedes as we pulled out of the garage. "Whose is that and when do I get to drive it?"

"It's mine."

"Why don't we drive that one to school?" We were driving down the wooded road that would lead us into town.

"Because." I like Clay. He was the kind of person who knew when a particular conversation was over.

"Okay."

I drove down the main highway till I hit Gregory Subdivision. James lived in a well off housing complex; hopefully it would be good enough for him. We drove for a few more minutes until we came to Wide Acre.

"Isn't Wide Acre the name of some racy novel by Phillipa Gregory?" I heard Clay say under his breath, and I couldn't help but chuckle as I remembered how that one series was able to change my perspective on any brother and sister that ever spent too much time together.

We reached 293 Wide Acre. It was a nice dark green house that had white shutters. A huge oak tree sat in front of the house, and gave the perfect advantage of sitting outside and reading ; of course only on one of the few days that the sun shined in Forks.

I parked a few houses down and then Clay and I ran back to the house. However as we got closer to the house I smelled the faint smell of wet dog, which was oddly comforting. Of course, this house probably had many werewolves go through it all the time.

"Dear God! What is that smell?" Clay stood on the lawn with his nose wrinkled up.

"Werewolf. I think part of James' family is probably werewolf."

"Jesus, I've been told about werewolves. All anybody ever said was that they smelled like wet dog. Nobody told me about the wet dog rolling in vomit afterwards."

We both climbed up the front of the house till we found a window that was unlocked. We slipped in and took in our surroundings. It was a small computer room with a leather sofa and a T.V. in one corner.

"God's anus. It smells even worse in here, Reneesme!" Clay bumped into a chair and almost knocked it over.

"How are you not graceful? It comes with being a vampire!" I opened the door and found myself in a small hallway. I sniffed, I could smell him.

"You find your lover boy while I check out the rest of the house, okay?" He ducked as I swiped my hand at his head. He went left to explore the house, and I rent right to follow the scent to James. As I walked down the hallway I noticed that it was covered with baby pictures. James and Kyle growing up together in La Push, and in town, their first steps, first birthdays, the first day they went to school. I could have laughed at James' face on his first day at school. It was so amazingly different than Kyle's. It was scared, and unwilling to try something new, while Kyle was trying to get out of the picture to go and play with the other kids.

His door was slightly opened, and when I tried to open it wider it squeaked. "Dammit, bring oil with you next time Reneesme." Next time? No. This was going to be the last time. There could be no more sneaking into his house at night anymore. I looked up and saw him lying on his bed.

He looked like an angel. He slept on his back, and I could see the end of his blanket flutter, slightly, from his breathing. He looked so warm, even in his sleep I could hear his blood pumping hard. I felt my throat begin to dry up as I inhaled the scent of his sweet blood.

He gasped. For a moment I thought that he had woken up, but he just kept sleeping. I sat down on the end of his bed. He looked beautiful.

"Renee."

I jumped off the bed and pulled the window up before I noticed that James was talking in his sleep. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, and even my own blood rise. I knew that I needed to leave his room, it was dangerous for me to be around him for so long, but I was reluctant to leave his room; I wanted to hear what else he had to say. I wanted to know why he was saying my name in his sleep, if he was thinking of me, or another person called Renee.

"Get out, Leah. You have no business here." The voice was from down the hallway, and the words confused me. Leah could not possibly be alive, it would have to be somebody else named Leah.

"Seth, you refuse to look at the facts." The woman's voice was shrill, and sounded like it could drip with venom. "It's just like Great-great-grandma Leah used to say. The Cullen's come and go every few hundred years. Kyle told me that he found the Cullen girl, that Renee around the old black house. We have to tell the tribe leaders."

"No, Leah, those stories are absolutely ridiculous. And besides, if they were true, then she technically didn't go onto your land, so you have no reason for saying anything." The male sounded tired and it was easy to tell that he wanted the conversation to be over.

"Look, Seth, I won't have my nephew in this town when those things are so close by!"

"Kyle is your son, Leah! You can do what you want with him, but don't you dare try and take my son away from me! He is my son, not yours."

"Fine." I heard a chair scrap across the floor. "My son will not come into this town while those things live here." I heard footsteps along the hallway and backed into the shadows in case Leah decided to check on James. Then I heard the worst noise in the world.

It sounded like someone had smashed something on the floor. "SETH!" Leah screamed, "Do you smell that?" I could hear her nostrils take in the scent. "Seth, those Cullen people are here!" I had not, for whatever reason, counted on anybody in this house being a werewolf. My phone vibrated, and it showed a text from Clay saying "sorry".

I jumped out of the window to find that Clay was already running towards the car, and I ran after him. When we got to the car, and were on the highway, I rounded on him. "What the hell were you doing, Clay?"

"I knocked into a shelf on the wall. I guess I knocked over a few things onto the floor."

"Are you sure you're a vampire? Are you just some weird kid that likes blood and is really, really fast?"

"Hey, it's not my fault that they decided to not have carpets on their floors. That whole thing would have been muffled if there was a carpet."

"That is totally beside the point." We were pulling onto the wooded roads that lead to our house. When I pulled into the garage I opened the door to find that Clay was waiting on the other side of it.

"Look, Nessie, I'm really, very sorry. I didn't mean to knock over the shelf."

"What were you doing anyway?"

"I was looking at something, I had never seen something like it before and I wanted a closer look-"

"Shouldn't I be asking you what you were doing, Reneesme?" I turned to find my father and my mother standing in the doorway leading to the main house. "Where have you been? It's two in the morning!"

"I was watching someone."

"Watching someone? You went over to that boy's house! How could you do a thing like that?"

"I wanted to make sure that I was ready for the date, thingy, tomorrow. That's all. I thought that I didn't kill him when he was vulnerable then I would be fine tomorrow." This excuse was stupid and even I knew it. But I smiled at the fact that my mother was beaming at me.

"Edward, don't you remember when you used to sneak into my room at night?" I heard her purr into his ear.

"Oh my God that's disgusting!" I covered my ears and began to walk past them with Clay laughing behind me. "I don't want to hear about any of that."

"Now, Reneesme, it's not like I ever did anything bad in your mother's room." I could hear my father yell after me. "I waited till our wedding night to consummate the marriage."

I had shut the door to my room, with Clay in it with me, and noticed how skillfully my mother had diverted my father from discussing the subject of tonight any more. I was, truly, going to have to learn her talent for distraction.

Clay fell asleep on the sofa in my room and I fell asleep in my bed. We had stayed up until ten in the morning watching really old movies, like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1776, and Phantom of the Opera. We fell asleep after we giggled ourselves silly about how the Phantom was a really old pervert and a lurker and that Christine should have totally chosen him over Raul.

We were only woken up by my Aunts bursting into my room at four in the afternoon screaming about the fact that I had gone to my Uncles instead of them for boy advice. Clay silently snuck out of the room as my Aunts got busy with my hair, make up, and clothes. Rose was brushing my already brushed hair while Alice was in my closet coming out with random pieces of clothing.

"Alice, Rose, is this stuff really necessary? I mean I'm just going out for dinner and a movie."

"Oh, no you're not; we're meeting him as well." Alice said as she pulled out a pink blouse.

"No, Alice. And what do you mean you're meeting him? You guys aren't coming with me, you know that right?"

"Of course, we know that." Rose was searching through my drawers in my dresser to find the make-up. "But your father wants you to bring him here before you go to dinner so that he can see this guy."

"Why?" I was smiling. I had told Rose that the make-up was in those drawers, but they really weren't.

"You didn't think that we wouldn't know about your little escapade last night did you?" Alice laughed. "Your father, and the rest of us, would like to see this boy. We want to know what was so important for you to go off at two a.m. to spy on him."

"I wasn't spying on him." I got up and pulled out a pair of dark denim jeans. "I was testing myself to see if I could handle being alone with him."

"Call it whatever, you want, honey, but we're going to call it spying." Rose said. "Are you sure that your make-up is in here, Reneesme? I can't find it anywhere."

It took until five-forty for my Aunts to be happy with how I looked. I had to fight Alice to wear my jeans, but in turn had to wear a sky blue blouse with a scooping neckline. Rose has fussed over my hair, and decided to straighten it. So it hung down past the middle of my back, and had a few twisted parts in it.

It only took me ten minutes to reach James' house, and I was extremely nervous. I didn't know how is father was going to react to seeing a Cullen on his doorstep, after what I had heard the night before. Luckily, or unluckily for me, James was waiting on the front porch and as soon as I pulled into his driveway got into my car.

"Sorry about this." He said as he pointed up to the main window of the house. I saw Leah, or at least a new Leah. This woman had the same deep eyes that made me squirm, and the same dark hair. Her expression was the same as Leah's a scowl that was permanently put onto her face at the sight of me with her nephew. "That's my Aunt Leah, she's been acting weird all morning; ever since I told my dad that I was going out with you tonight."

"It's not a problem." I couldn't look at him. The moment that he had entered the car his scent had hit me hard, and I was trying to control myself from ripping his neck open.

I began to drive out of the subdivision. "I hope that you don't mind, but I need to swing by my house for just a moment."

"Sure." His blood rate quickened. For someone that looked so indifferent, his body was acting otherwise.

"My family would like to meet you."

"The Cullens?" His voice cracked.

"That would be my family, yes." By his reaction I was hoping that maybe he was thinking of dropping out of the date and I wouldn't have to put myself through this.

"I would love to meet them! I've only heard what my tribe has said about you guys; but I know that it can't be true." He glanced over at me, as if he needed some sort of reassurance. But I didn't have the heart to lie to him. "They say that you're all cold, and pale as snow. But I know that they are wrong, I mean you have colour in your cheeks sometimes." He was watching my cheek? For some reason the concept of knowing that he looked at me made me smile.

I drove quickly down the wood road and stopped in front of my house. "You don't have to do this, James. I can just tell them that you didn't want to meet them."

"No way!" He was already out of the car and walking up to my house. "I've been dying to see what it looks like inside of your house any way's. All the kids at school used to come up here and look into the windows when you guys didn't live here, of course. I can't wait to see what you've done to the inside!"

I had to remind myself not to go faster than him as we both walked up to the front door of my house. I took a deep breath and braced myself for the icy cold plunge that I was about to take with this poor human.

Surprisingly the front room was completely empty. I rolled my eyes at the notion that my family had probably put themselves in random spots around the house to make them look more human. "Hello?' I called out mockingly. "Is anyone here? Because if you're not then we're just going to go."

"Hello." Esme and Carlisle were standing in the doorway that leads to the dining room. "How wonderful to meet you, I am Esme and this is my husband, Carlisle." The both smiled warmly at James, and I glanced at James and saw that he was smiling back. "Would you like anything? We just got done eating dinner." Esme gestured with her hand towards the dining room.

"Mother, we're supposed to go out for dinner, remember?" How could I forget that this would have been the perfect opportunity for my family to cook?

"No, it's okay, Reneesme." James began to walk with Esme into the dining room. "I don't mind eating here if your family has already made something." I looked at Carlisle and he gave me the 'I couldn't really stop her from doing it' face.

In the dining room was plenty of food, and I wondered when my family even had the time to cook all of it. There were steaks, salads, soups, rolls, and puddings on the table. "Wow, this all looks really, really good." James said as he entered the room. "Oh, hello."

I then noticed that my entire family was sitting around the table. What the hell did they think they were doing? Were they trying to make it look like we lived in a Stepford world?

"Hey, James." Clay said. "Come and sit with us." Clay gestured to a chair next to him, which James took. "Here, there is plenty to eat."

My father and uncles eyed James as he sat down. Carlisle gave the introductions for them. "James, these are Reneesme's brothers. This is Edward, Emmitt, Jasper, and you already know Clay."

"And these are my nieces, her sisters, Alice, Rosalie, and Isabella." Emse said as she returned to her seat beside Carlisle.

I took the seat near my father and touched his hand. I showed him my face, only it was extremely upset. He laughed.

My family picked at their food, and tried to make it look like they were enjoying it. There was much small talk about their jobs, and when they went to high school. Then after James had finished eating they began to focus their attention on him.

"So, James, where did you meet Nessie?" My father said.

"In the woods, a few days ago. She was at; well I guess it your house, in the clearing, the old Black House."

"What were you doing out there, Nessie?" My father turned to me and spoke so sharply that I almost recoiled from his tone.

"I wanted to see the place that Grandma spoke so fondly of, Ed." I smirked at him, and noted with joy that he didn't like the game we all had to play, which was pretending that my parents were my siblings.

"Well you should have asked one of us to come with you, Nessie. I would have hated it a bear or a mountain lion got to you."

My mother began to giggle, but quickly turning it into a cough. "So, James, what classes do you have with Reneesme?"

"Integrated Chemistry and Physics." My mother laughed harder, probably at the memory that she met and grew to love my father in a Biology class. "She's a great lab partner, she doesn't even need me."

"So do you wanna hear some really embarrassing stories about Reneesme growing up?" I turned to look at Emmitt, who had a wide grin on his. "Like how she refused to wear diapers, pissed in the tub, and used to eat her buggers?"

"WHAT THE HELL, EMMITT?!" I stood up from the table. Emmitt and my father were laughing hysterically. My aunts had their eyes extremely wide, and my grandparents were laughing behind their hands. "When will you grow up?"

James stood up with me, and I noticed that he had a faint smile on his lips. "Come on James, we're leaving." I began to walk to the door with James following me, when I heard Emmitt shout: "Hey, Reneesme, don't be such a party pooper!" The dining room erupted with laughter at his jest against me, and I could still hear them when we were outside.

"Reneesme, slow down." I turned and came face to face with James. I could feel his breath on my skin, and it sent shivers down my spine. "Don't worry about your family; I'm sure that mine would have been much worse than that."

He opened my car door for me, and then went around to the passenger side. "I just want you to like me, James." The comment was supposed to me to myself, but James, somehow, heard it. I felt his hand on my hand, and turned to find him only inches from my face.

"I do like you, Reneesme. Why else would I be here with you?" He smiled, and my body relaxed. I wanted this, I wanted to be here with him, with his hand on my hand and his face only inches away from mine. I didn't even tense when he began to lean forward and-


	9. The Beginning

**The Beginning**

**Side note: Yes, this story is two hundred years in the future, and yet the wondrous Tim Burton is mentioned in it. HOWEVER, in my world Tim Burton will live for as long as he can make awesome movies. Also, some of the background stories for Carlisle and Esme have been altered, so yeah…let us begin…NOW!**

"_I do like you, Reneesme. Why else would I be here with you?" He smiled, and my body relaxed. I wanted this, I wanted to be here with him, with his hand on my hand and his face only inches away from mine. I didn't even tense when he began to lean forward and-_

It was amazing, yet extremely dangerous. His lips were just like I had imagined that they would be, pumping with blood. His skin was warm, and very soft. He was perfect, and the kiss was perfect, though I was surprised by the amount of electricity I felt jumping between the two of us. I was so aware of him, of his breathing, of where his hand was. I wanted to twine my fingers into his hair, I wanted more than what he was giving me, but he pulled back and placed a hand back on mine. I then realized that the kiss had only lasted for less than a second, yet for me, it had felt like so much longer.

"I'm sorry." He sat back in his seat. "That was wrong of me, I should never have pushed you like that, I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright, I guess." I was confused. Was he sorry that he had kissed me? "So what time does the movie start?"

"It starts at eight. We can chill here for a bit before we go, unless you really want to get away from your family." He looked at me, and I saw him give me a small, alluring, smile. "You could just show me around the house; maybe I could meet your family and become better acquainted with them?"

I wanted to say no, that there was absolutely no way that I was going to put him in danger, like a house full of vampires for a long amount of time. Yet, looking into his eyes I couldn't find the words to say no. "Of course; if that's what you really want to do." I got out of the car and made sure to keep at least two feet away from him. I didn't want to admit it, but my throat was burning.

We walked back into the house and I began to lead him up the stairs. I walked him down the hallway to where my bedroom was. I let him walk into the room first and wasn't surprised when I heard him give a slight gasp. I did have a nice room, but I didn't think that he would like it very much.

"Wow! You must have, like, a million CDs in here, Reneesme!"

"Yeah, my parents gave me a lot of the ones that they collected throughout their lives."

"Some of this looks really old, though, like early 1900's."

"Oh, well my dad has a keen ear for music. He likes music from everywhere."

"Huh." He plopped down on the long leather couch. "So, do you want to watch T.V. or something, I mean until the movie starts?"

"You know, we could just watch a movie here. My family and I collect movies; we have a lot to choose from if you want to try that instead?"

"Oh, sure!" He smiled at me. "That's a great idea. I'm sure that we can still have a great time here." He stood up from the couch and stood next to me. I felt my knees go weak at the very thought of him kissing me again. "Be sure to get a good movie that we can watch in the dark." He whispered in my ear, and I felt my spine shiver. His lips began to kiss along my neck, to my jaw, and then finally back to my mouth.

We stood there for at least five seconds. His hands snaked to my waist and pulled me closer. I knew that I had to refrain myself. There was no possible way that I could do anything with him without breaking all the bones in his body.

"Reneesme!" I turned and found my father standing in the doorway, holding a bowl of popcorn. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was in a tight line. "What do you think you're doing?" He threw the bowl and it hit the wall near my bed, and made a huge dent.

"Edward!" I turned, and in the process put James behind me, maybe with a little more force than I should have, because he looked so taken aback by how I had moved him. I crouched in front of him, as if I was going to attack my own father.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that! I am your father!"

"SHUT UP!"

"Father?" We both turned around, and I noticed that James had picked up the bowl that my father had recklessly thrown. He turned and looked at the indent it had made in the wall, and then looked back at me. "Oh, my God. It's true, all of those legends that my Great-great grandma Leah told me were true. I know what you are."

My father straightened up, and I turned to face James completely. He had put all of his trust in me, and I had let him down horribly. I had no idea what to say, I had no idea what to do. In my mind only one thing truly mattered, and that was James.

"James." I reached out for his hand, and he gave it to me, and I heard my father hiss at the sight of my doing it. "I'm sorry. I know that you trusted me, you expected me to tell you the truth, but I just wanted to get to know you. I just wanted to get to know you."

"Reneesme-" My father pulled me back from James. "You have to remember that he is a human Reneesme. He's not like Jacob, with Jacob you could play. With humans you have to be extremely gentle. Do you think that you can dandle that?"

"Please, sir." James looked at my father. "I won't tell anyone about your secret. I want to know more, if you don't mind."

"Absolutely not." My father shook his head. "It is for your safety, young man, that you leave this house immediately."

"He stays." I could feel my father tensing next to me. "He will be my responsibility, and I will make sure that he doesn't get hurt." I stepped closer to my father, and spoke so that only he could hear me. "I want to get to know him, and that takes him getting to know me. Besides it's your fault that he knows what we are. If you hadn't of thrown the stupid bowl and gotten all upset at me calling you your name, none of this would have happened."

"You act like you love him or something."

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure, but I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to love if I can." I turned back to James, and I was surprised to see that he was smiling at me. "Come with me, James. Dad, please let the others know that I would like to meet them in the dining room in a few minutes?"

James took my hand again, and this time he held it a little harder. When he took his first step, it almost looked like he was going to fall, but I steadied him with my hand, and he looked, again, confused about my strength.

My father had already left the room, and was running around the house gathering up the members of my family to meet in the dining room. I took my time getting Clay there. He seemed like he was going to faint, but he never let go of my hand.

When we entered the room, I found that my whole family was waiting for me. Alice and Jasper were looking at me, from a corner of the room, and they were beaming with happiness. Rose and Emmitt, however, were not looking pleased at all. In fact, they both looked completely unhappy about the situation. Esme and Carlisle were sitting at the table, conversing in rapid Hebrew, and Clay and my mother were standing in a corner, both looking curious. My father was with them, glowering at me as I helped James sit down in a sit, and then sit next to him.

"Can I get you anything, dear?" Esme smiled at James and I felt him relax.

"If I could possibly get a glass of water, it would be most appreciated, ma'am." James said quietly. Esme rose and ran, at her inhuman speed, to get water for James. I guessed there was no more need to hide from him anymore.

"Here you go, dear." Esme said as she slipped the glass in front of him.

"Well, James," said Carlisle, "You must have a lot of questions for us. Please, feel free to ask away." My whole family looked at James, and I could tell that they were all thinking the same thing: What does he want to know?

James surprised me by turning to face me. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am. Reneesme Cullen."

"That's not what I mean!" He slammed his fist down on the table, causing some water to jump out of the glass. "Who are you, where did you come from?"

"I was born in this house, and I lived here for a long time afterwards."

"No. That's impossible! I would have known you, I would have seen you somewhere, in town or in the woods."

"Only if you were born about two hundred and nineteen years ago."

"No! This can't be real. Those legends aren't real."

"James?" Carlisle spoke calmly. "I think I may be able to help explain things a little bit better than she can, I have been around longer." He let out a slight chuckle.

"How much longer have you been around?"

"A few centuries longer than Nessie have been around." James' jaw almost dropped and Carlisle let out another chuckle. "I guess the best place to start a story, is at the beginning." He turned and looked at the family. "Feel free to help out guys."

He turned back to James. "Centuries ago, my father led rampages against vampires. You see, my father was an extremely holy man, and detested anything that might not have been pure. He used to lead me out on many of his battles against "the unholy ones" as he called them. He wanted me to get a firsthand look at how is business was to be run after he passed this world.

"One night, however, I was bitten by one of these vampires. I felt a burning sensation throughout my entire body. I didn't know where to go, or what I was supposed to do. I tried to kill myself, but nothing worked. Finally after hiding for three days, the burning stopped, and I opened my eyes to a brand new world.

"The world had become so very vibrant. Everything was so significant. My sight, hearing, and sense of smell had quadrupled. I was bigger, faster, and stronger, that in had been before. Yet, I was also extremely thirsty, and I knew that I would have to feed, sooner or later.

"I killed a few people. I couldn't help myself."

"Your, thirst?" James said, in a squeaky voice, I could hear his heart race speed up.

"I drove myself crazy trying to control it. I went out into the world and tried to kill myself on numerous occasions. I spent days wondering, trying to stay as far away from humans as I possibly could. I couldn't stand the monster that I had become.

"However, one say, as I was passing through a heavily wooded area, I came across a group of bears. I heard their blood pump, so loudly in my ears, and I couldn't control myself. While I bit down on a bear, I found that there was a substitute for human blood. I could lead a vegetarian-Esq. style of life.

"After that fateful day I found that I did not need to be a monster for the whole of my existence on earth. I began to travel the world, feeding on animal blood. One of my favourite places was Germany, where I met Esme."

Esme smiled wide. "I remember it like it was just yesterday. I had just lost my family, my husband, my child. I felt quite alone. I had not been able to see my sisters or brothers in days, and we were all extremely close.

"I was Jewish born and bred; and my family and I had the luxury of living in an upper-class neighborhood. I had been walking through our town when I met the first love of my life, while he was walking towards his house.

"His name was John, and he was well liked in our community. Yet, I was so positive that he did not notice me that I didn't even bother trying to talk to him on the street. So it shocked me when he came calling at my house later on that evening, intent on getting my father's permission to marry me.

Emse placed a hand on Carlisle's hand. "You see, James, John was truly the catch of the town. He was a rich Jewish boy, and any girl would have given their right hand at a chance with him, and yet he had chosen me. He had dark curly brown hair, and deep brown eyes that I could have stared into all day. His smile was beautiful and, at the time, I would have given anything to kiss him.

"The night that my father said yes to John was, indeed, the happiest night of my natural life. I had waited so long for a chance to be alone with John; for you see in my day, if the couple was not engaged than they always had an attendant with them. Yet that night John took me into his arms and gave me my first kiss." I knew that if Esme could blush than she would be scarlet.

"I was married at the town temple a month later. I remember it so well. It was like I was floating up to the altar in my white gown, and he waited for me in his handsome suite. There was much singing, dancing, and merriness all around us. I even remember giggling like a little girl when I realized that I would have to go home with John, instead of going home with my own family.

"Three months later, and we told my family that I was pregnant, and of course they told the entire town. My husband and brothers began building a crib, rocking chairs, and my sisters began to make tubs. I knitted blankets, scarves, swaddling, and sewed her gown for her first day at temple."

"Wait," James held up a hand. "How did you know that it was going to be a girl? Are you like clairvoyant or something?"

"No, James. A woman just knows these things. I was growing rather large, and after a while I could no longer leave the house, because I was so amazingly tired. Then in my seventh month my family put me inside of the birthing chamber. It was rather horrid, really. All the windows had been boarded up, thick tapestry all around the room. The fire had to constantly be on, and there was rush thrown all over the carpet, even herbs placed around the top frame of my bed. I must admit, this was rather scary, all of that superstition, but my mother, grandmother, and sisters all knew better than me.

"I had to lie in that bed for two month, and just wait. I was not allowed to get up, and John had to visit me from the doorway, for men cannot come fully into the birthing chamber until the baby has been born. Being in that room alone, I heard so many things. I knew that John had his eye on another man's wife in town. I heard the maids whisper that he had been sending her little gifts, something that he had never done with me, and that he was meeting her in the dead of night and not coming home 'till the morning. This news scared me, but I knew that when we had a sweet girl in the crib, then all his attention would be on us.

"I woke one morning to a strange pain in my stomach. I called for my mother, and my sisters, afraid of what was happening to me. When I realized that my water had broken, I sent my eldest sister to get a mid-wife. I believe giving birth was the hardest thing that I have ever done in my natural life. Twenty hours of excruciating pain, and that was before I even went into labor. Once I reached labor, the mid-wife told me to push, and I pushed over and over again, but then I got to tired. I didn't want to keep going, but I found that my body would do the work for me.

"It took hours and hours of hard labor, but the baby finally came. With one final push I had given birth to my baby girl. He was beautiful. Pale skin, and already had a crop of deep brown hair, just like his father's."

"Hold on. So this is Alice?" James said and looked at my father and my uncle.

I shook my head, and then noticed that Carlisle had put his hand on Esme's back, and she smiled at him, and then at James. "I was the very last to notice. The mid-wife handed me the baby, and I was so happy. I remember telling everyone "Look how content she is already. She will be my sweet little Evelyn!" I looked around the room at everyone and I saw no smiles from my sisters, my mother, or from the mid-wife. I held my baby closer to me, "Fine" I told them "I know that John will be happy at least.

"I ran into the living room, holding the baby out so that he could see her, and possibly even hold her. But John did not want to hold the baby. Nobody wanted to be next to me. I thought that perhaps they were upset that the baby was not a boy. "Look, John, I know its not a son. But see! Look how quiet she is already!" I noticed it then. My baby had not gurgled, or cried. I looked closely at her, and I noticed that she did not breathe. That was why the mid-wife and my family had not smiled or congratulated me. I had given birth to a still born.

"They all sent be back up into my room, only now the windows were open, the fire gone, and I had new sheets on the bed. They wanted to take my baby, but I insisted that she lay in her crib next to my bed, and that I would be with my husband when he buried her. It took me only a few days to recover from the birth. John and I went out into the woods with our family and our Rabbi. We were told how this was only the first born child, and how more would come and that we needed to trust in the Lord.

"When everybody left John turned to me. I thought that maybe he would have some kind words to tell me, but instead he yelled at me. He told me that I had made a fool of him in front of the entire town, and that a wife that could not bear children was a useless wife indeed. Then, for the first time, John hit me. His hand came down on my over and over again, until I fell to the ground. He kicked at me stomach, my back, he sent my ribs into my lungs and one even pierced my heart. He left me in the woods to die, and he never looked back."

"I found her." Said Carlisle. "I was passing by her town in Germany and I found her. This poor woman, who looked like she could have been an angel that fell from the sky."

"I begged Carlisle to help me live. I would do anything, I knew that I wasn't ready to die."

"I bit her. To this day I have never met her equal. I just wish I hadn't had to pay that price to find you." Carlisle smiled at Esme in a way that I had never seen before, it was tender, as if they had their own secret world that none of us knew of.

James looked at me again, then back to Carlisle and Esme. "So neither of you chose to become vampires? It was either become a vampire or death?"

"Yes." Said Esme simply, as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Did you ever see him again?" Esme smiled at James question, and I had to admit that I was a little taken aback. James was actually into Esme's story.

"Why, yes. I did return to the town. Carlisle and I went back thirty years later, I had intended on seeing my family again sometime in my life. When I saw him, he was sitting in one of the rocking chairs that he had made me outside of our house. He didn't have a wedding band on, and he was balding, fat, and extremely ugly. He took one look at me and burst into tears. "You look so much like her! My wife, Esme, have you seen her?" I told him that I was her daughter, Evelyn, and I told him that I was married to Carlisle. I kept walking down the street to my old home, and I never looked back."

"Wow." James looked at me. "This is so different than the legends that they say on the reservation. "So if your, like, dead how do you guys have so many children. Can vampires even have babies?"

Alice gave her light laugh. "No, not that we know of anyway. We are all together because we found one another. Carlisle and Esme found Edward. Carlisle found Rose, and Rose found Emmitt. When I found Jasper he was already changed. Do you understand? None of us chose to be like this."

"What about you, Reneesme?" James looked at me, and his eyes changed from deep green to bright green. "How did they find you?"

"They didn't. Edward and Isabella are my biological parents. My mother was still a human when she gave birth to me. She was changed afterwards."

"So can you have children?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

"Because I am half human. Why should I not be able to have children?" I didn't want to tell him that I knew because I was already married. I didn't want to go into the story of Jacob, how he was killed, and how I lost my only connection to him a month after his death. James wasn't ready for that part of me yet.

"Wow." James sat at our kitchen table for a little while, and I could hear his heart beat in normal time. His eyes constantly shifted from bright green to dark green to hazel, but I wasn't sure if the rest of my family had noticed this or not.

I glanced at Carlisle, and then to the rest of my family, and then remembered about Jeff. "Carlisle, there is more that I have to tell you." He glanced up at me. "There is another of the vampire kind in our town, only I believe that he is only a quarter vampire."

My family tensed at the thought that there was another one of our kind near. Our clan was extremely large, to be in such a small town. Yet, to have another of our kind around was potentially dangerous, just in case they squealed on us."

"Don't go bringing that thing into this house, Reneesme." This was the first time that Clay had spoken all night. "He doesn't belong here, he's not natural."

"Yeah but neither are we, Clay."

Clay ran to me, and I smelled his familiar scent, and then I realized. The scent. "Reneesme," I knew that the whole family could hear him, "I don't want him around."

"Clay." Jasper spoke up for the first time, "If there is another of our kind then we must seem welcoming to him, and let him know that we are here in peace."

"No."

"Clay." Carlisle stood up, and I reflexively put a hand in front of James. "We need to welcome this man, whatever his heritage."

"James, get behind me." I stood and turned my back to the wall, and James stood behind me. "Clay, I know what's going on here."

"Reneesme, don't."

"You have to tell them, Clay, or I will." Clay looked at me and then he turned to Carlisle, letting out a great sigh.

"The reason, Carlisle, that I don't want that guy here, is because-"

"What, Clay?"

"He's my son."


	10. Giving Clay A Chance

**Giving Clay A Chance**

**So here's the thing, I have had a horrible case of writers block. I spent the last few months of my senior year trying to find a new Muse because one had left me. I finally did find one, and I've been spending so much time with that person that I had totally forgotten to keep writing. But I am back now and I am looking forward to a summer full of writing and posting. **

I pulled James' hand lightly towards my car; I had to get this poor kid out of my house before he decided that he never wanted to come back ever again. We were driving down the wooded road when he finally spoke to me.

"Are you mad at me?"

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, with a faint smile playing on my mouth. "How on earth could I possibly be mad at you?"

"Well, you're not talking to me." His hand reached for my hand which rested on the armrest. As soon as his finger touched my skin I felt a jolt of electricity and closed my eyes for a brief moment of ecstasy. "I just hope that you don't feel like I'm invading your life." His eyes were wide with concern, and his mouth was in a firm line. I couldn't help but think of my father and laugh.

"No, I was actually worried that you would never want to see me again, which is understandable."

"Why?"

"I've put you in a lot of danger tonight, James." We pulled up to his house and I turned to look at him. "You were sitting in a nest of vampires, and you mean to tell me that you're not a little bit afraid of going back?"

He shrugged his shoulders, the motion sending his warm sent at full force towards me. "No, it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I want to see you again."

It was almost like he had some kind of spell working over me. "When?"

"Tomorrow, if I could. I don't want to impose or anything though."

I sighed and I saw him close his eyes for what, to me, seemed like a lifetime. "You will never impose on my life, James." What was I saying? This was a human, not someone that I can bring freely into my life. It would be too dangerous, for everybody.

He opened up my car door and placed a finger on my face. He lifted my hand to his mouth and planted a light kiss on it. "I'll text you later, Reneesme Cullen." I watched him walk to his house and then speeded all the way home.

When I arrived back in the dining room I saw that the scene was quite changed. Clay was sitting at the head of the table, and Carlisle was at the other head. My entire family, except for Alice, Esme, and my mother were behind Carlisle, they were behind Clay.

"We trusted you, and you didn't even have the decency to tell us that you had a son!" I had never seen Carlisle so upset in my entire life. "We took you in when your clan didn't want you. Was this the real reason that they had no interest in you, or is there something else? Are you a crazy rapist that is only interest in sheep?"

"Sheep shagger!" I looked at Emmitt and I knew that there was no conversation that he could be in that wasn't going to have some kind of rude joke.

"This is no time for jokes, Emmitt." Carlisle shouted behind his back. "This is a serious issue." Carlisle looked back at Clay and then to my mother and aunt. "We have a big decision to make here, do we keep Clay, or do we send him away?"

A ring of keep and don't keep rang throughout the room until Esme spoke. "Carlisle, it is unfair of us to not allow the poor boy to share what happened, love."

"Esme, the fact remains that he lied-"

"Carlisle!" Esme's voice was sharper than I had ever heard it. "How dare you not give someone a chance to explain things? How dare you condemn someone without knowing all the facts?"

"Exactly," my mother said, "we need to allow Clay to explain what happened and what he plans to do about this."

I went and stood in a corner of the room waiting, like everybody else, for Clay to begin his story.

_I know, I know, the chapter is extremely short. However, I needed a good filler to set up for an epic tale with dungeons and dragons and ghosts and goblins. Or maybe just a good chapter about how Clay has a son. I promise, it will be amazing!_


	11. Humans Can Be Predators Too

**Humans Can Be Predators Too**

**This is dedicated to my dear friend AnnaBolina a.k.a. Anna who has been in the hospital for way longer than any person as sweet as she is deserves. I hope to see you walking around soon Anna and we'll eat a lot of mac and cheese together! :D Now, onward, MARCH!**

Clay quietly sat at the table, and looked around at everyone. If I didn't know any better, than I would say that he was trying as hard as he could to start a dramatic monologue. "It started about fifty five years ago." His voice was barely audible. "I came down here at the first signs on my clan rejecting me. I don't believe you were here at the time, or I wouldn't have come."

"No, we weren't. We were all in different parts of the world at the time." We all looked at Jasper, who then drew himself back into the shadows.

"I came onto this land and I knew that I smelled others, but when I investigated more closely I found that none of you were here anymore, so I decided to stay for a while. I moved into a small apartment close to the forest so that nobody would ever ask about me, and when they did I said I was a trapper.

"I spent my days here at leisure. I had ordered countless books online and was pouring over them by day, and at night I went to hunt. It was exhilarating to hunt without my clan. I never had to worry about sharing any of the food.

"I never knew that werewolves lived in these parts, or I never would have treaded so deep into their land. I was lucky though, because I ran into a woman who was more interested in me not getting hurt then alerting her tribe.

"She walked me to the boundary line and told me never to cross it again, if I wanted to live. Then she sat down on her side and I sat down on mine."

"I know what you are," she told me. "I've heard about your kind from the elders of my tribe. You're not as pale as the other ones though."

"I tried to play it off like I had no idea what she was talking about, but she someone how knew what I was. The best part was, she wasn't afraid of me. The badgered me with questions the entire night, until the rising sun began to peek through the canopy.

"I told her that I had to leave, and she said she had to do the same. We both walked our separate ways to our separate lives. I went on for a few days, trying to get her out of my mind. Her beautiful tan skin, the darkness of her hair and her eyes, but most importantly the way I didn't feel thirsty around her. I felt comfortable. But the best thing was, I didn't even know her name and I knew that I loved her.

"I went back to the place that we sat and found her waiting for me, sitting on her side of the line. I ran up to her and she stood up to meet me."

"I knew you would come back!" She said as she threw her arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest. "I knew that you felt what I had felt." I held her for the entire night. We did nothing else, there was no need to. I had found someone who had made me feel comfortable even though she knew what I was."

My mother sighed and my father huffed. "Who was this girl," he said in a harsh voice, "is there any possible way that she is still around?"

"Her name is Rachael Black and I have no idea if she is alive or not." My entire family's eyes instantly got wider. "She was the only person I had ever made a connection with in my entire life."

"Black?" My mother was looking at my father with wide eyes and her voice quivered when she spoke. "Are you sure her last name was Black?"

"Yes."

"Dear Jesus, help us now."

"What's wrong?"

"You never made the connection?" I was surprised that I had spoken in such a harsh

"Of course I made the connection. But my clan told me about Jacob only a few years ago. Besides there are plenty of Blacks aren't there?"

"Not in this state." I shifted my weight from one leg to another. "Keep going."

"She started to come to my apartment during the days that we could spend together. It was the only way we could see each other in normal situation, because I was not allowed to go onto her land. I knew, after a year, that I wanted to marry her so I proposed and she said yes.

"She was barely more than a child, a young girl of no more than twenty one years. I was still a young vampire, and we believed that we could find a place where we could both exist in peace. The only problem was her family."

"We have to tell them, Clay." She was walking around my living room from the chair to the fire place over and over again. "They are my family they will have to understand."

"They won't, they've never even met me, Rachael. They will hate me for asking to marry you and never even meeting them. They might not give their blessing to us."

"They will have to." She said quietly as she placed one of her tiny hands on her belly. "We're going to be starting a family of our own soon." She smiled up at me and to see her face glowing I felt like the luckiest man in the entire world. No one was ever going to take this bliss out of my life."

"I can't believe that you were married." Jasper took a seat next to Clay and folded his arms as he leaned against the back of the chair. "Do you still have your wedding ring or anything like that?"

"No." Clay's response was short and curt. "I don't have one. I never got the chance to wear one."

"But I thought you said that you got married. You decided to not marry her in the end?" My father was practically shouting at Clay, accusing him.

"I never said that we had gotten married. I said that I had asked her to marry me." The room went silent and I saw that Clay was shaking. "If you want me to tell the story then let me tell it. If you're going to make up your own stories then I can just leave."

"No, Clay." My mother put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Please continue with what you have to say."

"We had no choice but to go onto her land to see her family. They absolutely refused to leave their reservation land for anybody. When they first saw me they knew what I was and they were not curious like Rachael was. They were furious, and they were out for my blood all over their walls.

"Their men morphed and were after me in the blink of an eye. They were all fast and I had never tried to outrun a werewolf before. They chased me past the boundary line across the state until I was able to steal a car and drive back up to Canada. I tried to come back across the line but they had wolves stationed all across the border, tracking me.

"After months of trying to get back to Rachael I was forced to go back up to my clan. I never told them what I had done on my travels, and they never asked me. After a few years I knew that I would probably never have the chance to see her again in my life. I learned to forget about her, but I never stopped loving her."

"So how did you feel knowing that you were going to come back to where you met her?" It was the first time Carlisle had spoken after he had vented against Clay.

"I figured that I would not be able to see her, even if she was alive. Those lines are ones that I will never cross again."

"And your son is…?"

Emmitt laughed loudly. "You have your son as your teacher? That's amazing!"

"He doesn't know that he's my son. I don't have any intention on telling him that he is my son. I have no intention of talking to him at all."

Carlisle spoke again. "What is his name?"

"Jeff Nevinski."

"I will be sure to contact him tomorrow."

"Why?" Clay flared and stood up. "I don't want him to have a part in my life at all. He looked like her."

"We have to meet him. It's the right thing to do, Clay." Carlisle stood and held a hand out to Esme. "I need to rest; will you join me, Esme?"

She smiled wide and took his hand. We all watched them leave the room.

My father went and took my mother's hand, glaring at Clay. "This doesn't mean that you can stay here, boy. We have a lot to talk about, still." My mother led him out of the room with her ease of controlling my father.

The rest of my family filled out of the room without a word to Clay until we were left alone. I moved to go and place my hand on his shoulder but he flinched away from me.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Rachael Black when I came here. You still seemed so sad about Jacob, and I was never sure when I was supposed to tell you about her."

"I understand, Clay. I don't blame you for falling in love with her. I guess we both have a weakness for the Black clan." He smiled up at me and I left him and walked outside.

It felt like I was walking aimlessly. I walked without a purpose without a thought in my mind other than Jacob Black and the child that I was supposed to give him. I remembered the night that he was taken from me, in cold blood. I remembered his funeral. I remembered the loss of our child. When I stopped walking I found myself at our home. I placed a hand on the doorknob, intent on going in and sleeping in our bed, sitting on our couch, playing on our piano.

I jumped as I felt my phone vibrate and let go of the handle to pull it out of my pocket. I looked down to find I had a text message from James.


End file.
